


Dear Katsudamn

by napsushi



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pen Pals, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Blow Jobs, Bottom Victor Nikiforov, Eros Katsuki Yuuri, Frottage, M/M, Mutual Pining, Non-Penetrative Sex, Oblivious Katsuki Yuuri, Phichit Chulanont Is a Good Friend, Phichit Chulanont is a Little Shit, Pining, Victor Nikiforov is Extra, alternating pov, more tags later as i need them, smut in later chapters, starts before worlds during the previous season, takes place in the year leading up to the Sochi Grand Prix Final
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24281902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/napsushi/pseuds/napsushi
Summary: Phichit wants Yuuri to socialize more.Chris wants Victor to explore things outside of skating.Victor and Yuuri just want their friends to shut up.
Relationships: Christophe Giacometti & Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Phichit Chulanont & Katsuki Yuuri
Comments: 231
Kudos: 284





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so, welcome to my first multi-chapter fic in the YoI fandom!! yayyyyy *sparkles*
> 
> Just a couple things to note before we get started:  
> This fic starts mid-April the year that leads up to the Grand Prix in Sochi (just before Worlds of the previous season) and Yuuri got silver at Japan's nationals, and bronze at Four Continents. Phichit got 4th at Four Continents. Neither of them qualified for worlds.
> 
> So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy!!

Yuuri clapped as Phichit drew his practice run of his new short program to a close, smiling when the Thai skater dropped his finishing pose to turn to him with a sparkle in his eyes.

“Yuuri! I think that was my best run yet!” Phichit cheered as he skated over to where Yuuri was leaning back against the barrier watching him, gratefully taking his water bottle from the older skater.

“Now you just need to get started on your free skate like Ciao Ciao keeps nagging at you for.” Yuuri chuckled, smirking teasingly at Phichit. Even though his rink mate had his short program down pat, he’d barely done more than sketch notes on his free.

“We all have our methods, Yuuri.” Phichit said with a wink. “I think that’s enough for today though, I’m tired, sweaty, and not to mention starving!” he emphasized the last word with a groan.

Yuuri giggled at his friend’s woes, following him off the ice and collapsing onto one of the benches to change into his street shoes, stuffing his skates into his duffel. “Did you have anything in mind for dinner?”

Phichit hummed in thought, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he stood up. “A few classmates invited me out to a new bar and grill that opened up just a few blocks from campus. They said you could come too if you wanted. I know you don’t really like socializing, but I think you should come. You don’t want to become a _total_ social recluse, do you?”

Yuuri groaned at the idea of being around people he didn’t know. “How many is just ‘a few’? We have different ideas of what just a few people can be.” If Yuuri was going to even entertain the idea of going out tonight without enough mental preparation in the face of being a sociable he wanted to know that he would be around a crowd of at least a reasonable size.

Pushing the doors leading out of the rink, Phichit bit his lip in thought. “I think altogether there’ll only be about three, maybe four other people coming? They’re all really nice and a couple of them even know a bit about ice skating so if you get nervous you could fall back on that for conversation.”

They walked in silence for a minute as Yuuri contemplated. He felt himself feeling grateful for the level of consideration his friend had for his anxiety and letting him know what topics he could confidently pursue. There would only be at most four more people, so including himself and Phichit it was admittedly not too many people at all, even if it were stretching his comfort zone of unprepared social interaction. But outside of their little group, there was one more thing that he was worried about.

“Is this new place going to be packed? I don’t know if I can handle a busy atmosphere right now…” he wrung his fingers together, a nervous habit he couldn’t break if he tried.

The younger skater gave him a sympathetic smile. “It’s only Tuesday so it shouldn’t be too bad, we can wait to go til after the dinner rush though if that would make you more comfortable. I know the others won’t mind. Plus it’s been open for a few weeks now, so the hype has died down a bit.”

Yuuri felt himself let out a small sigh of relief, the tension he didn’t realize was in his shoulders until that moment relaxing slightly. “Okay I’ll go, but if the food sucks you’re paying.”

Phichit laughed at that, bumping his shoulder into Yuuri’s playfully as they walked. “Yeah, okay, that’s fair.”

~~___________________________________________~~

After going back to their apartment and showering and changing into clothes that didn’t smell of sweat and ice, Yuuri and Phichit made the short walk to the Bar and Grill, where Phichit’s friends were already waiting for them with a table.

Sitting at the end of the table with Phichit to his right and the main walkway to his left, Yuuri tried to casually glance at the others who were there with them. Only three had shown up, and Yuuri had to suppress the sigh of relief he felt coming up at that revelation. They were all guys, and were chatting animatedly to each other as the two skaters settled in.

One of them, a boy with deep green eyes and sandy brown hair, turned to Yuuri in greeting. “Hey, we’re glad you guys could make it! I tried this place last week, and it’s literally soooooo good.”

Yuuri gave him a polite smile, muttering a small thanks. This was awkward, he was being awkward. With a gulp, he hid himself behind his menu, grateful for a decent excuse to not talk, more than happy to let the other four chat amongst themselves. The chat only cut for a small moment when the waiter came for their drink orders – Yuuri panicking and just ordering himself a water – then they went back to complaining about how difficult a quiz earlier that day had gone.

The waiter came back shortly after with all of their drink orders and asked if they were ready to order food yet. Yuuri wasn’t, but he didn’t say anything when a chorus of yes’s went around the table. He skimmed the menu again quickly, ordering something that felt safe – cranberry and grilled chicken salad.

When the waiter took away the menus Yuuri started to feel vulnerable. Phichit seemed to notice, and, taking pity on his increasingly nervous friend, changed the topic of conversation to one he could take part in.

“So has anybody seen that tweet Giacometti made earlier today?” the Thai skater took out his phone, pulling up said post. “Apparently there’s this new website that sets up people by email based on interests to be pen pals. He called it ‘dating but the not-sexy kind’.”

One of the boys – the first to greet Yuuri - snorted, “What even constitutes the difference between sexy and non-sexy anyway? Like, meeting people and making friends online is normal.”

“Oh c’mon, Alex, you know he’s just playing it up to keep up his sexy persona.” The boy to Alex’s left – he had short dark hair and an ever present mischievous glint in his eyes - gave a skeptical look to his friend. “But the concept is kinda cool, especially considering it seems even a skating celeb like Christophe is doing it.”

“I know right?” the third guy, who had curly turquois hair piped in. Yuuri recognized from one of his own classes – Niko was his name he thought. “Oh my gosh, Trey, what if Nikiforov is doing it too?”

At the mention of the Russian skater, Yuuri perked up.

Phichit noticed, immediately gaining a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “If he is then you have to do it Yuuri!”

Yuuri squeaked at the sudden attention “I-I don’t know… I doubt if I did it I’d even get matched up with him anyway. If it’s done by common interests and things like that, I definitely would be far from that.”

“Don’t be so down on yourself, Yuuri. I mean, skating is already a common interest.” Phichit pointed out.

Alex shrugged, “Even if you guys get matched, you wouldn’t know who it was anyway. It’s all done anonymously through their server, so unless you tell them your name, they won’t know it. The only identifier they have is their username system.”

“Okay, it’s official, I’m making you do this Yuuri.” Phichit announced with an air of finality that Yuuri knew would be futile to argue against.

“Alright, fine. But you’re doing it too.”

~~___________________________________________~~

Back at their apartment later that night, Yuuri sat on Phichit’s bed with his back against the wall and his legs stretched out, his laptop laying on top of them with the browser open to the pen pal finding website. So far he’d done the bare minimum account set up and verified his email, all that was left was what Phichit kept calling the ‘fun part’ – filling out the profile with his interests and a short bio about himself. There were also personality quizzes he could do to add on to his profile, but he’d do that later. Just filling out the bare minimum of the profile page was enough talking about himself for one night.

“How’s your profile coming along, Yuuri?” Phichit looked over Yuuri’s shoulder and huffed. “Still nothing? C’mon, I know you can do better than that!”

“I don’t know how to make myself sound interesting!” Yuuri exclaimed in exasperation. “I hardly know how to talk about myself period!”

“Okay, okay, do you want to look at mine for some inspiration so you can know where to start?” Phichit offered, turning his laptop slightly towards Yuuri, who nodded and looked at the webpage.

-

 **Pen Name:** peach-tea

 **Age:** 18

 **Interests:** hamsters!!, skating, social media, selfies!!, or really photographing anything that catches my eye!!, going out with friends, if it’s cute and fluffy I. want. to. pet. it.

 **Bio:** Senior division ice skater doing his best. If you don’t like Starbucks, I don’t think we should talk. Takes too many selfies according to my roommate. I’m currently in my first year of my B.A. of Photography, and I’m always looking for new subjects! If we match don’t worry about talking first if you don’t want to, I’m not afraid to say hi!!

-

Yuuri passed back the laptop to his friend, groaning. “Why are you so good at this?”

“It’s a gift,” Phichit shrugged “Do you want me to do yours for you?”

Yuuri couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at that. “No way, I’d regret it before I even got a match!”

“Fair enough. Do you at least know what your pen name is?”

“No, but I sort of have an idea? What if I work it around katsudon, y’know, since I like it so much?” Yuuri said, scratching the back of his head in frustration.

“Yes! It has so many pun possibilities!!” Phichit grinned, his eyes glittering as he opened a blank doc file and started typing out his ideas.

Yuuri watched him type frantically in silence, terrified of what his roommate would come up with. It wasn’t long before Phichit typed out the last one, hitting the keys loudly with a note of finality.

“Alright, how about katsudont-touch-me?”

Yuuri shrugged “That doesn’t make me very approachable I don’t think.”

“Okayyyyy, how about katsudone-with-your-shit? Or even just katsudone honestly”

Yuuri shook his head, then turned down more and more katsudon related puns.

“Okay, this is my last one. Whaddya think about katsudamn?” Phichit said, sounding exhausted from his ideas being turned down over and over again.

“Okay, that one’s actually kinda funny,” Yuuri laughed, “Might as well use that and get this part over with. You can change your pen later on, right?”

Phichit nodded, “Yeah, but they have a 90-day waiting period between changes. So you’re sure on this one?”

“I mean, it works,” Yuuri said, typing the new pen name into the text box.

After getting the pen name out of the way, Yuuri found his head to feel less stressed and the rest of the profile seemed to flow out easier, even if he didn’t have much to say anyway. It wasn’t long before he was handing his laptop to his friend to judge.

-

 **Pen Name:** katsudamn

 **Age:** 22

 **Interests:** katsudon, dogs (poodles mainly), ice skating, gaming (mostly rpgs and platform games), staying in with a couple friends, ballet, or dancing in general I guess?

 **Bio:** Just a dime-a-dozen figure skater from Japan. I have a dog named Vicchan, he’s a toy poodle. I never know what to put into these bio things, so feel free to ask me questions?

-

Yuuri chewed on his bottom lip as Phichit skimmed the small profile page, his friend’s expression annoyingly neutral as he read.

Before long, Phichit handed Yuuri’s laptop back with a sigh, “I mean, at least it’s honest? And I mean that in the most endearing way of course!”

Yuuri elbowed him in the side. “Yeah, well, it’ll have to do for now. I can’t really think of what else to put on it.”

Phichit chuckled, “Well my offer to do it for you is still up whenever you think your profile needs a makeover!”

Yuuri shook his head, and with a deep breath hit the submit button, and off his profile went live, just waiting for the website’s algorithms to match him with someone who would be – hopefully – his perfect chat match.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please kudos and comment, it means so much to me!!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so heckn sorry this is so late guys!! I had a bad mental health bout (I work at Walmart during a crisis, so yeah) so I needed to step back from the story for a bit and just watched Haikyuu and Parasyte instead!! I hope the longer chapter makes up for it, nearly 3k words according to my doc.

Victor sat sprawled on his couch – Makkachin snuggled up against his chest snoozing - scrolling through Instagram, finally letting his muscles relax after a very long day training for the upcoming World Championships. It wasn’t long before he got bored and closed the app, opening Twitter instead. He swiped through his feed, replying to a few friends and fans, furrowing his brow in curiosity when he gets a text notification from Chris. Victor navigates to his messages and taps the text open.

 **From Chris** **😘** **  
** I found something to spice up your boring life Golden Boy  
https://tinyurl.com/2fcpre6

 **To Chris** **😘** **  
** I swear to god, Chris, if this is another rick roll, I am kicking you with my skates on.

 **To Chris** **😘  
**Also my life isn’t boring…

 **From Chris** **😘** **  
** Just do it!!  
[shia.jpeg]

Victor rolled his eyes, sighing as he tapped the link sent to him. He was surprised when the link did not in fact open YouTube, and even more surprised when his phone did not start belting out Rick Astley’s hit song turned meme, Never Gonna Give You Up. Instead, it opened to a site with a minimalist yet pleasing design, the heading giving him the name of the website, dubbed simply PenPal.net. He scrolled down a bit, reading the introduction to the website.

_“Come one, come all! Remember in grade school when your teachers would have penpal events? You’d get the name and address of some random stranger – sometimes within your own country sometimes internationally! – and you’d correspond for a while before the event was over and you more than likely forgot about their existence._

_Well this site is different! We use an internal messaging system to keep anonymity for those who want it, along with various interests to choose from and custom tags for what we couldn’t think to add! You can also use our fun quizzes to add to your profile! Matching is done entirely from the information you give us and is done with our fancy-schmancy internal algorithms – no need to swipe left or right!!_

_Join us in this fun game of Pen Pal Roulette!!”_

Victor went back to his messages, going straight to Chris.

 **To Chris** **😘  
**Okay, what are you getting at? Are you trying to hook me up? You know I’m too busy with skating for that sort of thing.

As much as Victor appreciated his friend looking out for him, sometimes he went about it the wrong way. Victor wasn’t looking for anyone to be with, his life and his love already belonged to the ice.

 **From Chris** **😘  
**Oh don’t get your panties in a twist, chérie. It’s just for randomly matching with people to chat with. Like omegle but with less chance for getting trash. Do it, have fun. And let me know if you do end up with some spicy chats ;)

Victor wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of a reply to that, but figured it would be harmless to make an account and see what happened. Navigating back to the still open website, he tapped the ‘create an account’ tab, inputting his email and creating a password. Once his email was verified, he was brought to a profile creation page, first asking about what he would want his penname to be. Victor thought for a minute, wondering what he could put that would keep him anonymous, as his usual username would certainly not work for that aspect. After a lot of deliberation, he felt he could settle on one, and he typed ‘ice-life-love’ into the little textbox. Next it asked him to input his birthdate for age verification, and he selected for his only age to show on his profile, seeing as his birthday was also a dead giveaway.

It then went on to ask him about his interests and prompted him to put in a short bio for himself, and he did a few of the personality quizzes too out of curiosity. It wasn’t long before his profile was finished, and he hit submit to set it live.

Now he was bored.

Victor knew he would have to wait for the website to analyze his profile compared to hundreds – if not thousands – of others, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it.

Victor reached down to scratch behind Makkachin’s ears, the pup only responding with a suddenly very enthusiastic tail wag. If the internet wasn’t going to entertain him, at least Victor still had his Very Best Boy to keep him occupied. Makkachin started panting happily at the attention, which only made Victor want to drown him in even _more_ attention. He kissed his pup’s face and smooshed it together to make him look funny, then rubbed his belly in apology for his antics.

Before long, Makkachin got bored and left Victor to lay on the couch alone, deciding chewing on a tennis ball a couple meters away from the couch was better worth his time.

“Traitor…” Victor huffed, unlocking his phone and reloading the page for penpal.net, and was pleasantly surprised when a notification that he got a match popped up.

Victor tapped the message, which navigated him to the profile page of his match – katsudamn. “Wonder what that means…” he mutters to himself, scrolling further down the profile, skimming it. He stops dead when he sees a three-letter word under his interests, then immediately pulls up his chat with Chris again.

 **To Chris** **😘** **  
** CHRIS. I GOT A MATCH. HE LIKES DOGS.

 **From Chris** **😘  
**Congrats! Now talk to him about it! Have a life outside of skating for once, chérie.

Rolling his eyes, Victor went back to the profile he didn’t finish looking at. Apparently, this person was also a skater, and from Japan. _And he has a toy poodle. Oh my god he has a toy poodle._

“This site is incredible, he’s perfect. He likes poodles _and he skates?”_ Victor felt in awe, this truly was a great match for him. He tapped the little message icon in the corner of the profile.

“Dear Katsudamn…”

~~___________________________________________~~

It was three days after first making his profile when Yuuri finally got a message stating he got a match, and probably about 30 minutes longer before Phichit convinced him to even look at it. Feeling his chest slightly clench with that familiar pang of anxiety, Yuuri took a deep breath and clicked on the profile.

-

 **Pen Name:** ice-life-love

 **Age:** 26

 **Interests:** ice skating, PUPPIES .:☆*:･'(*◕♡◕*))), going out with friends and competitors after a good competition, did I mention DOGS ☆*:.｡.o(≧♡≦)o.｡.:*☆, taking selfies in all of the interesting places I visit!!, a damn good doggo (´｡• ω •｡`)

 **Bio:** In case you couldn’t tell, I love love LOVE dogs!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I have a light brown standard poodle whom I love with all my heart!!! I am a pretty, talented skater, and I compete for Russia! (づ ◕♡◕ )づ My friend made me do this so I can get my mind off the ice though haha! When I’m out competing, I enjoy going shopping and sight-seeing with my fellow competitors. I look forward to talking to you!! ☆⌒(ゝ。∂)

-

The profile also features quizzes that his match has taken, results only available after Yuuri decides to do them for himself, but he won’t bother with that for now. There’s one thing he’s focused on more.

“Phichit!” Yuuri called out to his roommate, “he likes dogs!”

The Thai boy peeped his head in the open doorway of Yuuri’s room. “Dogs? That’s great Yuuri! What else does he like?”

Yuuri skimmed the rest of the profile, “Looks like he’s also a skater. It says he’s from Russia.”

Now peering over Yuuri’s shoulder, Phichit grins at the older skater, “Hey, think he knows Victor?”

“I doubt it.” Yuuri shakes his head. “Even if he trains in the same rink, which I still think is unlikely, it doesn’t look like he’s at the same level as Victor, so he probably would only see him in passing. That would be pretty cool though…”

Just then he got another notification, a pending message from ice-life-love.

“Oh my god…” Yuuri whispers.

“Oh. My. GOD! Yuuri! Click on it! Click on it!” Phichit shakes the chair Yuuri is sitting in in excitement.

“No, not yet! He just sent it!” Yuuri didn’t know if this site had read receipts yet and he didn’t want opening the first message the second the other person sent it to be how he found out.

Phichit sighs. “Okay fiiiiine. I’ll just…” Suddenly Phichit lunges forward, grabbing Yuuri’s laptop from atop his desk and running out of the room with it.

“Phichit! Give me back my laptop!” Yuuri rushes after his roommate.

“Hey, if you’re not gonna read it, I will!” Phichit says, dodging Yuuri’s hands and jumping over their couch to avoid the Japanese skater’s attempts to catch him.

“Phichit, no!”

“PHICHIT YES!”

Yuuri continues to chase his friend all over the apartment, jumping over and ducking under various pieces of furniture. Yuuri chases Phichit into the latter’s room, and throws a pillow at him, who knocks it out of the way by swinging Yuuri’s laptop like a bat. The young skater then picks up the pillow and throws it back at Yuuri, using the distraction to make his escape back out of the bedroom to the living room. Yuuri can tell Phichit is getting tired, no match for his own stamina, and when the Thai skater slows down ever so slightly to catch his breath, Yuuri takes his chance and lunges at him, pinning him to the couch with one leg on the floor to brace himself, his other pinning the other skater across his thighs. Phichit holds the laptop above his head, moving to dodge Yuuri’s hands, which was a huge mistake. Yuuri moves his hands down to Phichit’s sides, tickling him mercilessly.

“Ha ha, okay! I give! I give!” Phichit says between breaths of laughter. “Yuuri, please, I’m gonna pee!”

Yuuri grants mercy upon him, snatching the laptop. “Have you learned your lesson?”

Phichit grins, “Nope!”

“Of course not.” Yuuri shakes his head, then pushes at Phichit to make him move. “Scoot over.”

Phichit sits up with his back against the arm of the couch, pulling his legs up to cross them. Yuuri sits next to him, legs stretching in front of him and resting his feet on the coffee table in front of the couch, placing the computer in his lap and opening it again, taking a deep breath before clicking on the message.

**ice-life- love said:**

Dear Katsudamn,

First off, that’s an interesting pen!! I’d love to hear the story behind it sometime! (੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧ But what I’m most interested in knowing about - if my profile didn’t hint at it ;) – is your poodle! I love dogs! ⁽⁽◝( • ♡ • )◜⁾⁾ Do you have a photo you could send? (it’s okay if you’re not comfortable with photos yet, but I need to see every cute doggo I can okay?) What color is he? Your profile said his name is Vicchan, да? That name sounds so interesting!

I look forward to hearing from you!!

Ice-life-love

Yuuri read over the text a couple times then turned to Phichit, “Hey Peach, I think I found someone on this earth more enthusiastic than you.”

The other skater immediately looked offended, crawling over to Yuuri’s side of the couch, and leaning against his shoulder to read the text on the screen. “Well, he certainly loves emojis, but I still claim the Most Enthusiastic title, thanks.”

Yuuri laughed and reached his right arm over his friend, pulling Phichit into a side hug. “Forever and always, if there was a gold medal for that you’d have hundreds.”

“You’re damn right I would! Now reply to him with all of your doggy wisdom.” Phichit quickly returned the hug then stood up. “In the meantime, I’m going to go see if my match, lady-in-red, has replied back today!”

“I wonder why you got matched in like three hours but mine took three whole days…” Yuuri pondered.

“Probably just the algorithm trying to hold off until you have a perfect match. It’s likely you made your account first and once ice-life-love made his, it sped up the process. He likely only waited a short time like I did.” Phichit shrugged, not waiting for a reply before disappearing down the hall and into his room.

Yuuri turned back to the message window, noticing that the messages did indeed have read receipts. He could only hope that his penpal wasn’t impatient, or that he hadn’t seen the read receipt in the first place yet.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Yuuri focused on the matter at hand – replying. What was he going to say? Something about Vicchan probably, since dogs seem to be the bulk of the message he received. Ice-life-love had asked him a few questions, he could answer those. With a nod of determination, he began typing.

**katsudamn said:**

Oh, my pen is just a joke my friend came up with. It’s a pun from ‘katsudon’, which is my favorite food. I don’t know what the damn part is for, I’d have to ask him, but I liked it enough to use it? But anyway, Vicchan! He’s a brown toy poodle, he’s almost 10 now (such an old boi). I haven’t seen him in nearly 5 years though. He’s back in Japan with my family while I train in the States. I miss him :(

Yuuri purposefully left out the part about Vicchan’s namesake, since any skating fan would probably laugh at him. It wasn’t long before he got a reply.

**ice-life-love said:**

Oh no! (ﾉД`) That is way too long to be away from your best boi!! I don’t know what I’d do if I were so far away from my dog for such a long time!! I hope you get to visit with Vicchan again soon and get all of that good ole puppy love!! ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡ My big boofer is getting up there in years as well, his energy doesn’t show it though!! I had to dig him out of a snowbank during his walk this morning because he thought it would be a good idea to go full throttle and jump into it!! (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞ My hands were so cold after that, at least I was wearing gloves!!

Yuuri couldn’t help but giggle at the image the message conjured, a dog like Vicchan, only much bigger, bounding full speed into the snow. It was then he noticed the other didn’t mention his dogs name, almost as if he was purposefully avoiding it. He was about to type a message asking about it, but before he could he saw the three wiggling dots on the screen indicating that ice-life-love was typing his own message.

**ice-life-love said:**

Also, you said you’re in America, but why? (•ヘ•;)

**katsudamn said:**

Oh, I’m in America for college. It’s taking longer because of skating, but I don’t mind. My coach is here as well, which is part of why I chose this school. The program I wanted to study isn’t too bad here either, but I really am mostly here just for my coach.

**ice-life-love said:**

Oh~!! That’s cool!! What do you study? I never went to college because I’ve always wanted to spend as much time on the ice as possible!! I hardly managed to finish high school… (>~<);;; I knew the content, but you know how it goes. The ice is a very demanding mistress!! Who has time to study when I could be skating instead? :D

Yuuri smiled at the screen, happy there was someone else other than Phichit who could understand the struggle.

**katsudamn said:**

I’m studying business. It’s boring but it’ll be useful when I retire eventually. I’ll probably go into my family’s business or just work at the local rink with my friends. But you’re right about the ice being demanding, half the time I do my studying and homework from the bleachers at the rink during breaks or when rinkmates need more of the ice. I hardly sleep, there is only school and skating.

**ice-life-love said:**

Sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you!! I’m sure you can do it though, if there’s anything we skaters are, it’s determined!! ( ﾟ♡⌒) But speaking of sleep, I really should be going to bed. It’s getting late on this half of the globe and I have a morning practice to rest for!! Goodnight katsudamn!! ٩(ˊ〇ˋ*)و

**katsudamn said:**

Good night :) Sleep well ice-life-love

Yuuri heaved out a sigh and slumped into the couch. “Well that wasn’t so bad…” he muttered to himself, almost relaxing before being jolted upright by the slam of a door opening down the hall.

“YUURI YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE WHAT I MANAGED TO SNAG.” Phichit yelled as he ran down the hall, clinging to his own laptop.

Yuuri looked over the back of the couch at his friend, raising a brow in question.

The younger skater, grinning from ear to ear, turned his laptop to face Yuuri. “Yuuri!! We’re going to Worlds in London, Canada to see Victor Nikiforov win another gold!”

All Yuuri could do was gasp in disbelief, then pull his friend into a tight hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please kudos and comment!! I'd love it lots!!
> 
> Next time - To the World Championships in London, Canada!!
> 
> I used this location based off of real life locations for the championship. 
> 
> Also, Victor is mean to me and has to use so many emojis, so if there are any emojis you want to see him use, comment them below!! If I like them I might feature them here!
> 
> The link Chris sends to Victor at the beginning of the chapter actually leads to a super secret easter egg!! You should click it ;)
> 
> You can find an image of the layout for Yuuri's and Phichit's apartment on my tumblr: https://napsushi.tumblr.com/


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leading up to Worlds, Victor comes out to his penpal a bit more. Perhaps, too much?
> 
> Yuuri is struggling with respecting his penpal's wishes and giving in to his own curiosity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can guess who Phichit's penpal is before I introduce them you get a cookie.

Yuuri felt abuzz with excited energy as he did a few cool-down laps around the rink, hardly feeling the fatigue from that day's practice. It had been a long month since Phichit had scored them the tickets - a gift apparently from his mysterious penpal, lady-in-red - and now it was only one more week until they would leave for the nearly three hour drive to London for Worlds. Even though he hadn't qualified, Yuuri still felt happy he was going to be able to see it in person. To see Victor skating in person. He'd of course seen that before already, but Yuuri's anxiety from competing tainted those memories. Last year's World Championships were a blur of mixed emotions; excitement and pure unadulterated fear. Yuuri was grateful, at least a little bit, that he wouldn't be competing this time around, if only to be able to enjoy watching his idol skate in person.

In that month's time, Yuuri had also started to get to know his own penpal more, and would even go so far as calling what they had friendship. They talked nearly every day, mostly when it was late in Detroit and Yuuri was avoiding going to bed like the night owl he was. It was a perfect coincidence that his penpal was an early bird himself, and would wake up when it was nearly midnight for Yuuri. They would talk late into the night, until either Yuuri passed out or until his friend had to leave for his morning practice. They would talk about ice skating, naturally, given that was what they dedicated most of their waking hours to. Often Yuuri would vent about how his body hurt from slamming into the ice so many times, his attempts at raising his success rate for his quad salchow not looking all too promising. His penpal would in turn give him pointers, then complain about one of the junior skaters at his rink.  _ "He is so talented, but so very mean! It will bite him in the ass one day!" _

One thing Yuuri noticed about his penpal though, was that he never gave too many details into his own skating. He obviously knew a lot, and was probably really talented himself, given all the advice he gave Yuuri - especially advice that actually worked. But when asked directly about his skating, he would deflect the question or ignore the message entirely. Yuuri understood it could very well be just the other skater worrying about staying anonymous, but Yuuri doubted the man needed to go to such lengths to achieve that. Yuuri didn’t even know if he was in singles, pairs, or ice dancing either. There were a lot of things he kept hidden, and Yuuri had finally accepted that was just how his new friend was. He'd even given up trying to coax a name for his dog out of him, just simply decided to dub the canine "Himitsu" since his friend was being so secretive about it, and got no complaints for it either.  _ "Himitsu? Google says that means secret, is that right? I think it's adorable!"  _ The nickname eventually turned into Himichan, which his friend found even more adorable.  _ "Like Vicchan! So cute!" _

Yuuri, however, didn't put so much effort into maintaining his anonymous identity. He'd forwarded numerous photos and videos of Vicchan that he'd had Mari take for him, and even sent videos of himself skating when he needed advice but couldn't explain in words what was wrong, but he'd edited them with various stickers covering his face. Yuuri didn't really see the point in anonymity at this point, but respected if that's what his penpal wanted. Plus it was only fair, if his friend didn't share his identity, then neither would Yuuri.

Yuuri was pulled from his thoughts as Celestino called out to him. "It's time to get off the ice, Yuuri. The hockey team needs the rink to practice for this weekend's game!"

"Yes, coach!" Yuuri called, skating to the opening in the barriers just as a few of the members of the hockey team made their way onto the ice, and he sat down at the bench where he left his street shoes and skate bag.

Yuuri jumped slightly when he felt a large person sit next to him, but quickly calmed his nerves and very adamantly focused his gaze down at his skates as he tried to unlace them with now slightly shaky hands.

"I saw you practicing just now," The figure next to him said suddenly, "the way you skate, I don't know how to say it. You look like you belong out there."

Yuuri could feel the flush tinting his cheeks, but he pretended it was from the exercise. "O-oh… uhm, thanks?" Yuuri stuttered, daring to look up at the man sitting next to him.

The man had long dirty blonde hair, pulled up tight into a manbun, his skin slightly tan from the gradually warmer weather that spring brought. His face had light stubble on it and his features could only be described as handsome, his eyes a deep forest green. He was wearing the school's hockey uniform and was lacing up his skates, and Yuuri had a passing thought about how different they were to his own skates.

"It's Yuuri, right?" The blonde flashed him a smile, thankfully ignoring Yuuri's awkwardness. "I'm Erik." Erik held out his hand in greeting, and Yuuri hesitantly took it in his own. "You practice a lot, I really admire your dedication to your sport."

Yuuri couldn't find his words, simply swallowing as he felt his face heat even more at the compliment.

"You could probably skate circles around us meatheads," Erik continued with a soft laugh, "It would be interesting to try some of those fancy moves you do."

Yuuri let out a nervous chuckle, hardly more than an exhalation of breath. "Well, you'd need new skates before even trying. You wouldn't be able to do much of anything with those." Yuuri nodded to the skates that were now fully laced on the other man's feet.

"Ha, that's true!" Erik stood, turning to face Yuuri. “Still though, I think it’s really impressive the things you can do on the ice. I bet that flexibility comes in handy off the ice too.”

It took Yuuri a moment and Erik adding a wink to understand what the hockey player meant by that last comment, and Yuuri felt his face go from a soft, warm pink to a full blown, burning tomato shade. He looked down at his feet, now covered in his street shoes, and grabbed his skate bag before standing, sputtering out nonsense the whole time, failing to get English to work for him as it often did when he was flustered.

Erik just let out a fond chuckle, putting a reassuring hand on the smaller man’s shoulder. “Hey, sorry, maybe that was a bit too straight-forward. I do mean it though, you’re captivating Yuuri.” With his free hand, Erik dug a crumpled up piece of paper from his front pocket and casually stuck it into Yuuri’s own front pocket. “If you’d like, I can take you to dinner sometime. Just think about it.” 

Erik squeezed Yuuri’s shoulder gently before letting him go, and walked off to join his teammates where they were impatiently waiting for him on the ice, some even catching on to what just happened and letting out a couple wolf-whistles. Yuuri just flushed more at that - if that was even possible - and walked out of the rink as fast as he could.

___________________________________________

When Yuuri finally reached his and Phichit’s apartment, he went straight to his room and closed the door behind him. Curling up on his bed, head propped up on his hand and leaning on his elbow, he opened his laptop and typed in the penpal website with one hand. His last conversation with ice-life-love had been about silly things their dogs did, but Yuuri ignored that, needing to vent to someone about the hockey player. 

**katsudamn said:**

UGH.

Yuuri didn’t expect a response yet, it was evening where his friend was and he was likely busy, but Yuuri found himself pleasantly surprised when he got a reply not even 5 minutes later.

**ice-life-love said:**

hahaha, is something wrong? 😂

**katsudamn said:**

Yes, a very, very attractive hockey player flirted with me today and gave me his number and I don’t know what to do! He put the paper with his number on it in my pocket With His Own Hand. I’m so embarrassed!  (O///﹏///O);;;;

**ice-life-love said:**

lol, I don’t know if I would count that as a problem!! ┐(￣∀￣)┌ Are you going to put that number to use though is the question? ;)

Yuuri thought to himself for a moment. He didn’t really have any interest in dating or hooking up or anything like that. But Yuuri couldn’t deny, the man was attractive, extremely so. Biting his lip, Yuuri typed out a reply.

**katsudamn said:**

... maybe.

**ice-life-love said:**

👀👀👀💦💦💦

Yuuri frowned at the response, moving on before it got worse.

**katsudamn said:**

You are insufferable, you know that, right? Aaaaanywayyyy, you don’t normally reply at this time, it’s weird to get messages so early in the day from you haha

**ice-life-love said:**

Oh!! Didn’t I tell you? I’m competing at worlds!! :D I arrived in London this morning so I could do some sightseeing before the competition!!

Yuuri gaped in disbelief at that, his penpal was  _ competing at worlds?  _ One of the skaters he was going to watch that day was going to be the man he's been talking to for the past month. Yuuri also realized it narrowed it down even more when he remembered his friend could only be part of the Russian team.

**katsudamn said:**

Oh wow, really? I only just barely missed making the cut for worlds OTL But my roommate managed to get some tickets from his own penpal, so we're going to be there as well! 😁 Even though I won't know which skater you'll be, I'll be cheering you on anyway!

**ice-life-love said:**

Hahaha, thank you!! Even if you don't know which skater I'll be, I hope you enjoy watching me anyway! ;)

**ice-life-love said:**

Oh, I meant to ask, when will you two be arriving?

**katsudamn said:**

In a week, just a couple days before the competition. Roommate wants to do some sightseeing as well, maybe you can point us to all the good places so we don't waste our time haha 

**ice-life-love said:**

I'd like that :)

___________________________________________

It was a few days until the men’s singles short program, and Victor was leaning against the barrier at the rink, having a water break as he scrolled through his messages with katsudamn. Victor had been gradually getting more comfortable opening up to the man, but he honestly wasn’t so sure that was a good thing. It was nice to have someone to talk to that didn’t know who he was and didn’t talk to him through the veil of wanting to impress him just because he was a star athlete. Even his relationship with Chris was somewhat tainted in that way, Victor knew the Swiss skater had at one point idolized him, and very likely still did despite their friendship. Victor was very well aware of the effect his fame had on people, and he didn’t want that ruining this new friendship. He’d likely already let too much slip by letting katsudamn know that he was competing in Worlds; afterall, how many 26 year old Russian men were there competing this week, from any branch. If there was one thing Victor was sure of, though, was that his new friend seemed trustworthy enough to respect Victor’s decision to remain anonymous, and he didn’t seem very likely to try and dig for Victor’s identity using what information he had already let slip.

At that moment, katsudamn was likely in a car, on his way to London. The thought sent a shiver down Victor’s spine, they would be so close yet they wouldn’t be able to meet, lest Victor blow his cover. Victor wasn’t ready for that yet though. He still didn’t know if the other would be open to a friendship with him after finding out his identity, and that admittedly kind of scared him. Being found out meant there was a risk of losing his friend, and Victor wasn't about to let that happen. But through all of that, Victor did selfishly wish he could see his friend without the other realizing it. He had received videos from him, and even though the man had edited his face out of all of them, Victor was sure he’d be able to recognize him anyway. Katsudamn carried himself in a way that Victor couldn’t help but find absolutely captivating, and he was honestly surprised when the other man said he’d barely missed his shot going to worlds. Apparently Japan only had one slot for men’s singles, and of course they had to give it to their own gold medal national champion. It made Victor wonder how katsudamn placed at Japanese Nationals.

Victor's thoughts were interrupted by Yakov shouting at him to get back to work, but Victor just ignored him, deciding he'd practiced enough and he made his way to get off the ice.

"Vitya, what are you doing?" Yakov reprimanded him, "Get back on the ice!"

Victor waved a dismissive hand at him. "I'll be fine, I've gotten enough practice in for today and I still have the official practice slots before the short anyway. I'm getting food now."

Victor grabbed his skate guards and slipped them on, pushing Yakov's angry monologue to the background as he changed back into his trainers. Carefully replacing his skates into his bag, he walked out of the arena back towards his hotel.

After dropping off his gear and showering the grime of practice away, Victor changed into a white fitted v-neck t-shirt, and light blue jeans. He pulled a light grey button up over the t-shirt, then a light jacket over that. Grabbing his gloves, Victor left his hotel room and headed to a cafe he'd searched up before that was close to the hotel.

It was early evening when Victor settled down in a cozy armchair towards the back of the cafe with a latte and a couple pastries that were probably against his diet plan, but what Yakov didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

It was just then he heard a familiar ping come from his phone. With a small smile growing on his face, Victor unlocked his phone and tapped the message notification, a quiet chuckle coming out from his lips as he read the message.

**katsudamn said:**

I’m finally here! 3 hours is way too long to be in a car with someone who insists he gets to pick the music since it’s his car. I WAS DRIVING. But NOOOOO since it’s his car we listened to the OST to The King and the Skater THREE TIMES BEFORE HE LET ME HAVE A PICK. 

**ice-life-love said:**

Well, you certainly seem to have had quite the entertaining trip. At least it wasn’t an 8 hour overseas flight right after a 4 hour layover in Paris (￣ヘ￣) 

**katsudamn said:**

haha, ok you win. Anyway, what are you up to?

**ice-life-love said:**

Oh just relaxing in a cafe and people watching. I'm supposed to be practicing, but I can only take so much of Yakov in one day (－‸ლ)

It wasn't until Victor had already hit send that he realized his mistake. And when he saw those dots indicating that katsudamn was replying, he felt his chest constrict slightly. This was  _ bad. _

**katsudamn said:**

Yakov? As in Yakov Feltsman?

**ice-life-love said:**

…yes?

Victor watched as the three dots appeared and disappeared multiple times while his penpal figured out what to say. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd been figured out, so Victor started preparing replies in his head. Then katsudamn's response appeared. 

**katsudamn said:**

Wow, you really must be a good skater to have Yakov Feltsman as a coach.

That… was not what Victor expected. Another message came while Victor's brain was still trying to catch up.

**katsudamn said:**

I know you're probably thinking I'll figure it out because of that, but even though I'm curious, I respect you too much to try to think about it. You're a talented skater and you made it to worlds, it doesn't matter to me who your coach is.

Victor let out a sigh of relief.

**ice-life-love said:**

Thanks, you're a good friend.

___________________________________________

Yuuri couldn't stop thinking about it. His penpal trained under Yakov Feltsman. That almost definitely means he knows Victor, or he is… No, Yuuri wasn't entertaining that thought. Yuuri has said too many embarrassing things to even think about the possibility that it was Victor Nikiforov that he sent it to. So of course it wasn't him, it couldn't be him, it never would be him. There, that's settled.

Yuuri jumped when his phone pinged.

**ice-life-love said:**

People watching got boring, heading back to my hotel. So what are you doing?

**katsudamn said:**

Nothing really. Turns out my roommate's penpal is actually competing at worlds too (really explains the tickets I guess) and they're meeting up somewhere. So I'm left here bored.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**ice-life-love said:**

Oh, so am I not entertaining enough for you? Dear, sweet katsudamn, you WOUND me!! ι(´Д`ι)

Yuuri chuckled and shook his head. Whoever this man truly was, Yuuri knew he had to be an absolute dork.

**katsudamn said:**

Words on a screen can only be so entertaining  _ dear, sweet ice-life-love. _

Yuuri began to think the "dear sweet" part was too much when the typing bubble kept appearing and disappearing on his screen. He was about to type an apology when the message finally came up.

**ice-life-love said:**

What if they were words… not on a screen?

Yuuri raised a brow at the message, quickly replying with his own.

**katsudamn said:**

What do you mean?

Yuuri couldn't believe his eyes at the next message that came.

**ice-life-love said:**

Do you want to meet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm evil, huh?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be longer but writers block got the best of me. I really wanted to post the update today, so I just cut part of it for chapter 5 so that this chapter would have a decent stopping point.
> 
> Also, I'm updating the rating to M instead of E. My ideas for the smut I dont think fit quite an explicit rating, so that's why I'm doing that.
> 
> Big thanks to Niko, Kyle, and shamelesspeanutllamathing for helping me get through my block. Especially Niko for providing good Phichit Lines.

**ice-life-love said:**

Do you want to meet?

Victor could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he waited for a response, pacing around his hotel room to let out the extra energy. There's a tick mark to show that it's been sent and read, but as the minutes go by he wonders if he would ever get one. Quickly, he opens up his texts instead.

**To Chris 😘**

Chriiiiiiiiiiis, I think I fucked up 😭

**From Chris 😘**

Oh dear, what did you do this time, chérie?

Victor went back to his chat with katsudamn and screenshot the last few messages.

**To Chris 😘**

[image]

Chriiiiiis, he's not replying!! I don't know why I even suggested it honestly, I'm not even ready for him to know it's me. But I want to be around him????

**From Chris 😘**

Sounds like somebody has a crush on his penpal 😉

**To Chris 😘**

It's not a crush, I'm not some horny teenager. What do I do though? 😓😭 

It took Chris a while to reply, leaving Victor to stew in his nerves. He rarely felt nervous, but there was something about katsudamn that just made his heart beat faster and made him actually care what the other man thought. 

Finally Chris replied.

**From Chris 😘**

At risk of sounding like the sappy friend, I say do what your heart tells you. I know I tease you, but he really does sound good for you and if he's a real friend, your big gay crush aside, he won't care that you're Victor Nikiforov. Might take him some time to adjust but if he wants to be serious about being your friend then he'll get over it.

**From Chris 😘**

Also if he takes advantage of you or breaks your heart I'm castrating him. ( ＾ω＾)っ✂╰⋃╯

Victor shook his head, chuckling softly at his friend's enthusiasm. Just then, his phone pings the familiar chime of penpal.net.

**To Chris 😘**

HE MESSAGED BACK I'LL UPDATE YOU LATER. WISH ME LUCK.

Victor barely saw the reply of "Good luck chérie!! ❤" before he tabbed over to the chat log with katsudamn, holding his breath subconsciously as he read.

**katsudamn said:**

Sorry for taking so long, I really had to think about how I wanted to reply. As much as I want to say yes, I have to say no. You've put so much effort into staying anonymous, I don't want you to give that up just because I'm a little bored being alone. I mean, I'd love to meet you, please don't think I'm completely against it. I just feel like you don't need to give up your identity to me for my sake alone? I'm sorry if you thought that I thought you weren't entertaining in text, I was just trying to be teasing but I guess I failed at that? Talking to you here is more than enough for me. 

Victor could feel pain in his chest, and he struggled to explain why. The reply made sense, and was ridiculously thoughtful and was so considerate to Victor's feelings and identity. It made  _ sense.  _ So why did it  _ hurt so damn much? _

Victor wanted to see katsudamn, desperately so. Who knew when they'd next be in the same country at the same time, let alone the same city. Yes, them both being competing athletes made it all the more likely, but with them both being anonymous it felt like they wouldn't realize it the next time it happened until it was too late. For Victor, it was now or never. Even if Victor knew he probably wasn't as ready to reveal himself as he was feeling in that moment, disappointment ruled over that feeling.

**ice-life-love said:**

I've wanted to meet you since I found out you were coming to worlds. I want to meet so badly, but certain circumstances make it complicated to do so. For me to ask you… I trust you, a lot. You mean so much to me already and it pains me to have to remain anonymous.

**katsudamn said:**

I'm not changing my mind. If anything, I'm worried about this affecting your skating in a few days. I know my skating suffers when I'm distracted in one way or another… I'd hate to do that to you…

It pained Victor to read the concern his friend had for him. Even though Victor knew this would be unlikely to affect his skating - he always left outside feelings off the ice - there was no way katsudamn could know that. Normal skaters got nervous and made mistakes because they were distracted, but Victor wasn't a normal skater. He was a champion. But katsudamn didn't know that. Katsudamn thought he was normal; oh how bittersweet that tasted.

**ice-life-love said:**

I don't know how to tell you that it won't mess with my skating, but I can see you won't be persuaded otherwise.

**katsudamn said:**

I'm sorry… 

Victor let himself flop down face first into his bed, letting out a long sigh. He opens his texts to Chris again and sends a quick message.

**To Chris 😘**

Mission Status: Failed

**From Chris 😘**

You, me, hotel bar, 15 mins. My treat ❤

Victor would be forever grateful that Chris was his friend.

___________________________________________

Yuuri was laying on his bed, his face shoved into a pillow, when Phichit returned to their shared hotel room. Yuuri barely gave him a glance before going back to his pillow.

Phichit goes over to Yuuri's bed and sits on the edge near his head, placing a comforting hand on his right shoulder. "Something happen while I was gone, bud?"

Yuuri just let a groan out into the pillow as a response, tossing his still unlocked phone to Phichit so he could read the messages between him and ice-life-love. The younger skater let out a long sigh.

"Okay, why didn't you go see him? I know there's more to it than him being anonymous." Phichit crawled over Yuuri to the other side of the bed, laying down on his side to the elder skater's left.

Yuuri rolled over so he could face his friend, letting out a long sigh as he gathered his thoughts. "I just… I don't know to be honest. It just feels like he's holding me at a distance and I can't tell if that's because of him or because of me."

Phichit listens and nods at the right intervals, letting him vent before trying to speak, one thing Yuuri loved about his best friend.

"If it's just him I can probably handle it, but the voice in my head that always makes everything bad is saying it's my fault. That he's only pretending to be my friend. Or he isn't pretending but the friendship means more to me than it does to him."

Phichit waits a moment before speaking, trying to find the right words to say to reassure Yuuri. "From what I read, I bet it's just him. He's a good enough skater to have made it to worlds, and being a Russian skater probably means he's even more famous. If anything he's probably just as scared as you."

Yuuri fiddled his hands together and focused his gaze on them as he listened to Phichit speak. After a few moments of silence, Yuuri’s phone pinged; ice-life-love messaged him. Yuuri glanced at Phichit before unlocking his phone and reading it.

**ice-life-love said:**

im sry. r we ok?

Yuuri was caught off guard by the way his friend was typing, raising a brow at the phone as he replied.

**katsudamn said:**

Yeah, I think so. I think the question is are YOU okay though? 

**ice-life-love said:**

i got sad. frend took me 2 hotel bar 4 drinks. am now less sad.

Yuuri swallowed, hesitating over the send button for a moment before committing to his message.

**katsudamn said:**

Why were you sad? Was it because of me not seeing you?

**ice-life-love said:**

maybeeeee………

Phichit, who had been reading over Yuuri's shoulder the whole time, decided to finally say something. "Wow, he truly seems lost in the sauce."

Yuuri hides his face in his pillow again, hoping this time it will swallow him up, his voice muffled as he speaks, "He's truly gone in the abyss of that sauce and it's all my fault…"

Phichit is only able to understand Yuuri because of his vast experience over the years in comforting his friend when the anxious skater is all but merged with his pillow. "Well, I disagree, but if you want to feel like that then make it better."

If there is one thing Yuuri hates about Phichit, it's when he's right and when he's smug about it. Yuuri can feel that smugness crossing Phichit's face as he picks his phone back up with a frown, refusing to look at the other skater. He types out a message, not sure what to say but knowing he has to start somewhere.

**katsudamn said:**

How did I make you sad?

The dots appeared and disappeared, Yuuri guessed the alcohol was making typing no easy feat.

**ice-life-love said:**

u dodnt wanna see me…

**katsudamn said:**

But why? It's not like I'm anything special.

**ice-life-love said:**

ur speshal 2 me tho

Yuuri wants to doubt that, but finds himself unable to. If ice-life-love hadn't been drunk maybe, but there was something about alcohol that made honest men of everyone. So Yuuri, if reluctantly, accepts what the other man said. But he still finds himself wanting to question it.

**katsudamn said:**

Why am I special to you?

It takes awhile before a reply comes through, Yuuri holding his breath as he waits, Phichit pressing their shoulders together in a much appreciated motion of silent comfort.

**ice-life-love said:**

i dunno. ive nevr felt like this about anyome b4. but ur specal 2 me kastudam. rly rly specail. i like u an hate that i cant see u. rly rly wan see u…….

Yuuri sighs and wonders what all that meant. Of course there's a layer of it that's obvious, ice-life-love is quite fond of him at least. But to the extent that this confession goes is lost on Yuuri as he types out his reply.

**katsudamn said:**

You should get some rest.

Yuuri hesitates a moment before sending another message.

**katsudamn said:**

Make sure you drink lots of water. I want you coherent tomorrow so we can talk more about this.

With that, Yuuri puts his phone down on the bedside table, once again hiding in his pillow refuge. A few pings go off but Yuuri ignores them, knowing that reading them would be counterproductive in getting ice-life-love to go to bed.

Phichit wraps an arm around Yuuri, resting his head on the older skater's left shoulder. He waits a few minutes to let Yuuri calm down before speaking. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Yuuri rolls back over, sighing deeply as he gathers his thoughts. "What do I do, Peach?"

Phichit sat up, looking down at Yuuri with a sympathetic smile, though his eyes still had a glint of mischief in them. "Uh, go see him obviously."

Yuuri sat up and frowned at his friend. "You know I can't do that. At least not now. I already told him no, not to mention he's drunk."

Phichit rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, obviously not now. But I really think you should go see him tomorrow at least."

Yuuri sighs, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them, hiding the lower half of his face. “But… What if he’s… like… severely not impressed by me? I mean, I didn’t even make it to worlds.”

“Neither did I, and I’m still awesome.” Phichit said with a grin. “Plus, you’ve already sent him videos of your skating, and he was impressed by those right?”

“I guess,” Yuuri shrugged. “He mostly just liked my step sequences and spins, but even I know those are already okay. My technical aspects could use more work…” Yuuri paused a moment, regathering his thoughts. “What if he doesn’t actually like me and is only pretending to be my friend?”

“Yuuuuurriiiiiii,” Phichit wrapped his arms around his friend, “I know for a fact that isn’t true. Use your eyes, bud. He's obviously got the hots for you and meant what he was saying.”

Yuuri snorted. “Yeah, as if…” He leaned into Phichit, relaxing slightly into the embrace “I wonder who he is…”

Yuuri could feel Phichit grin against his shoulder. “Knowing your luck, it’s Victor Nikiforov lusting after your fine ass.”

Pushing Phichit away, Yuuri frowned deeply. “Don’t even joke about that, Peach. I’d probably die if it was Victor.”

Phichit’s trademark shit-eating grin was plastered on his face from ear to ear as he just laughed at his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, things get a little bit.... juicy.
> 
> Also I've been wanting to use that castration emoji since the beginning of the fic, thanks Chris.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO FUCKING SORRY IT TOOK A MONTH TO UPDATE.
> 
> With work driving me half to death, I've hardly had the energy to do much of ANYTHING.
> 
> That being said, thank you all for being so patient with me. I appreciate every single one of you. <3

Victor woke up early the next morning with a ridiculous hangover and all of his drunken texts rushing back into his memory. Groaning, Victor grabbed the water and painkillers Chris had set on the bedside table the night before for him, popping a couple pills and then chugging most of the bottled water in one gulp. “I am an idiot.” he proclaimed to the empty room.

Since the short program was only two days away now, he rose out of bed reluctantly and got ready for another grueling day of practice. He knew Yakov wouldn’t go easy on him just because he had a hangover; in fact the old coach would likely do the opposite and be even harder on him as punishment. Might as well get the inevitable done and over with, sooner he was done with practice, the sooner he could go back to his hotel room to nurse the hangover. As much as he loved being on the ice, he wasn't so much a masochist to try and skate for long through this migraine.

After showering, Victor rubbed a towel through his hair, grabbing his phone from where it was charging on the nightstand to check his messages. All he had was the typical social media notifications for people liking or commenting on his posts, a few news articles for keywords he flagged, and a text from Chris reminding him to drink water, but with more colorful language.

There were no messages from katsudamn. 

Victor wondered if his inebriated state and desperate messages had scared the other man off. He considered sending an apology, but he didn't have much time to talk to his friend now, not with Yakov waiting for him to arrive at practice.

Victor sighed, quickly typing out a message and hitting send before heading out the door for practice.

**ice-life-love said:**

I'm sorry about last night. I have practice but I can talk once I'm done.

  
  
  


Practice was just about as horrible as Victor had expected, with Yakov first giving him an entirely too loud lecture on how he shouldn't have been out drinking like that just days before the competition. Then after a very thorough warm up that felt more like military drills, he was jumping quad after quad, each landing sending pulsing pain through his skull. He somehow managed to land them all with nought but a wobble, except his last one - a quad lutz. Victor's skate slid out from beneath him upon landing, his take off at too much of an angle and he knew from the moment he jumped that the result would be him skidding across the ice on his ass. Rubbing his hip where he knew a beautifully horrible bruise would no doubt form, Victor felt himself frown as a high pitched laugh from somewhere to his left echoed through the rink.

Victor turned just in time to see his rinkmate, Mila, skid to a stop next to him, still giggling as she held out a hand to help him back on his feet. Victor took the assistance with a small huff, brushing the snow off from where he landed.

“Honestly, it will never get old seeing you fall on your ass.” Mila chuckled. “Based off of those fangirls, you can guarantee it’ll be a meme in the next hour.”

Victor looked to the seats where a few fans were watching, phones out. He groaned internally. While it wasn't unheard of for him to fall during practices, it was still a rare enough occurrence. At least he has the excuse of the quad lutz being a harder jump, if it were an easier jump, or god forbid his signature quad flip, he'd never live it down.

"You really shouldn't drink so much during a competition." Mila continued, voice losing only a little of the teasing it had before, "Especially not over some anonymous skater."

Victor looks at her in shock, narrowing his eyes, "How…. Did Chris tell you about that?"

Mila only giggles and winks at him, "Oh, I have my sources…"

Victor sighs and moves on, knowing no matter how much he presses Mila won't say anything, "Anyway, speaking of anonymous skaters, how'd your meet with your penpal go?"

Mila lit up, her grin going from teasing to excited. "It was great! Peach-tea's actually a lot cooler in person than I thought he'd be! Apparently his roommate is on the site too and has a penpal competing here!"

Victor gave her a curious look, raising an eyebrow in question. "Oh? Who is it?"

Mila just grinned wickedly at him. "Oh, now that's a dirty little secret for me to know and you to wonder endlessly about." She paused before adding, "I will say that he's also a skater though."

"Why do I feel like you're hiding something particularly devious?" Victor asked, amusement in his voice.

"Because I am!" Mila winked at Victor, which only made him roll his eyes in fond exasperation. 

Letting it go, Victor continued on with his practice, his curiosity only mildly piqued. It wasn't until late in the afternoon that Yakov finally had mercy on him and let Victor go. By that point the initial hangover was gone, but only to be replaced by the pain of practicing so rigorously while not in good form. His body was sore and he could feel the dehydration sapping his energy, despite his efforts to drink plenty of water while he skated.

Wasting no time, Victor made his way straight back to his hotel, ordering an early dinner through room service and ate while he checked his phone after the long day.

There waiting for him was a reply from katsudamn to his earlier message.

**katsudamn said:**

Oh, no need to apologize! I don't quite know why you'd wanna see me that bad, but I guess I'm flattered that you do? But really, you don't need to be sorry. I guess I'm also sorry for saying no?

After it was another message, the timestamps showing it was sent a few hours later than the first.

**katsudamn said:**

Can I ask though? Why you'd want to see me so badly that is…

Victor found himself surprised that katsudamn had to ask, he figured he’d made himself pretty obvious last night. He’d also made a complete fool of himself, an obvious fool. It wasn’t as if he’d been trying to hide his budding crush on the other man, the magnetic need to finally meet him driven by the feelings that had been developing over the weeks they’d gotten to know each other. But Victor had to admit, he didn’t exactly say it outright either.

Victor looked at the message for what felt like an eternity, trying to figure out how to reply. It was one thing confessing when he was drunk, but a completely different story trying to admit it again the next day when sober. Sighing, he tapped on the message text box and started typing out a reply, backspacing and retyping multiple times before settling on one message.

**ice-life-love said:**

Like I said last night, you’re special to me. We connect in a unique way and it would be nice to know who you are. We don’t necessarily need to meet, but I’d be lying if I said it was something I didn’t want.

Victor hit send before he could change his mind on the message, knowing this was something he and katsudamn had to talk about, even if it wasn’t easy.

It would probably be a while before he got a reply, his friend most likely out sight-seeing with his roommate, so Victor put his phone down on the bedside table and decided to finish his early dinner. Once he was done with that he laid down on the hotel bed and pulled a book from one of his bags to pass the time, though he didn’t absorb most of what he was reading. His brain was addled with thoughts of katsudamn and how the man would reply. 

The man was a beautiful mystery, ever elusive, and to Victor, was the sweetest forbidden fruit. Victor had been used many times for his fame by potential lovers, and as soon as Victor had trusted any of them to show them his true self - the self he showed to katsudamn near every day now - they’d deny him. No one wanted just Victor, all they wanted was Victor Nikiforov the Living Legend. They wanted his gold medals and his fame. No one had ever found interest in Victor the person, in the sides he kept hidden. Until katsudamn that is. Katsudamn came into his life like a whirlwind and without knowing who Victor really was had accepted the man behind ice-life-love. Katsudamn brought out sides of Victor he didn’t even know he had, having spent so much time in front of the media or influencers that his personal side got shoved to the back. Finally, Victor felt like a real person.

And finally, Victor felt he could bare his heart to someone, but there was only one problem with that. He didn’t know who katsudamn actually was, and neither did katsudamn know who he was. Victor didn’t even know how katsudamn would react to finding out his true identity; didn’t even know where to begin in explaining either. And he didn’t even want to think about what he would do if katsudamn ended up like all the others, if he used Victor’s fame for his own personal gain.

It was dark out by the time Victor’s phone chimed with that ever familiar tone, and he had to take a deep breath before unlocking it and tabbing over to the penpal app. Victor bit his bottom lip as he read.

**katsudamn said:**

I personally wouldn’t mind if you knew who I was, if I’m being completely honest. But your identity sounds a lot more complicated and I really don’t want to pressure you to reveal that before you’re ready just so we can meet.

Victor widened his eyes at the message, hurrying to reply as an idea began to form in his head.

**ice-life-love said:**

So what you’re saying is, if we could meet without you figuring out who I am, you’d do it?

**katsudamn said:**

I guess… But how would we do that?

Victor took a deep breath before quickly typing and sending his next message.

**ice-life-love said:**

Just trust me. I’m in the Hotel Metro, floor 5, room 516. The door will be unlocked.

Victor hesitated only a moment before sending another message.

**ice-live-love said:**

Please come. I need this.

========================================

Yuuri was sitting next to Phichit at a bar and grill - which if Celestino ever found out about, he would skin them both and make new skates out of their hides - near their hotel as he was talking to ice-live-love and nearly spat out his food when the other man gave him his hotel and room number. He was in the same hotel as him and Phichit, and only one floor away at that.

At Phichit’s puzzled look, Yuuri showed him the last couple messages. “Peach, what do I do?”

“Yuuri, I honestly don’t know why you’re asking because you know exactly what I’m going to say.” Phichit shoved a fry in his mouth before continuing, speaking with his mouth full. “You finish eating, then march straight back to the hotel and get summa dat ass.”

Yuuri gave him a face at the rather crude phrasing. “But how is he even going to pull it off?”

At that Phichit shrugged, taking a sip of his soda before speaking. “I dunno, but I’m sure he wouldn’t try to trick you either.”

When Yuuri didn’t reply, Phichit spoke again. “Yuuri, he asked you to trust him. Are you going to?”

There really wasn’t any need for Yuuri to reply. They both knew what he was going to do.

**katsudamn said:**

Give me an hour. I’m at a restaurant with my friend… But I’ll be there.

**ice-life-love said:**

See you soon <3

  
  
  


After returning to the hotel and taking a quick shower in his own hotel room, Yuuri rode the elevator up to ice-life-love’s floor, walking down the long corridor until he reached room 516. Even though ice-life-love had said the door would be unlocked, Yuuri still knocked to announce his arrival, waiting a few seconds before twisting the handle and letting himself in.

The door shut behind him, casting the room in complete darkness. Yuuri figured the windows must have been covered in black out curtains to shut away the light from the city. Taking a deep breath, Yuuri swallowed his nerves before speaking into the dark room. “So this is what you meant. I guess if I can’t see you I can’t figure out who you are.” Yuuri let out a nervous chuckle as he spoke, unsure where the other man was.

Somewhere in the darkness he heard shuffling that sounded like the other man getting off the bed, then footsteps as he approached Yuuri, stopping only a few feet away from him. Yuuri held his breath, waiting for him to speak.

“It was the only thing I could think of, and I had to meet you.” the other said, and Yuuri felt a shiver run down his spine at finally having a voice behind the words he’d been reading for weeks. A voice that sounded vaguely familiar, but Yuuri ignored that. It didn’t matter.

Then, a hand came up and cupped Yuuri’s face softly, making him jolt slightly in surprise. A thumb caressed his cheek, and Yuuri leaned into the touch as the other man spoke again. “It was so hard to say in typed words, and even now I’m not sure if you picked up the meaning behind it.”

“What do you mean?” Yuuri asked, looking up to where he assumed the man’s eyes were, as if that would do anything in the darkness.

“You’re special to me, and I can’t help but find myself falling for you slowly and sweetly.”

Yuuri swallowed, feeling his cheeks heating up at the emotion filling the confession. He didn’t have time to reply before he felt ice-life-love step forward a bit, bringing them so close that he could feel the other man’s breath against his own lips.

“Is this okay?” the other man asked, and Yuuri nodded, silently thankful that the hand still on his cheek was able to catch and translate the movement’s meaning, and then he felt warm lips press softly to his.

The kiss was chaste, but oh so sweet, and Yuuri felt himself getting light headed. He kissed back, pushing up onto his toes slightly to make up for their height difference, which in turn had the effect of making the kiss deeper, though Yuuri wasn’t complaining. He reached his arms up to slide them around the other man’s neck, tangling his fingers into soft hair. Ice-life-love placed a hand on Yuuri’s hip, pulling the shorter man closer as he ran his tongue along Yuuri’s bottom lip, asking for entrance. Yuuri granted it, opening his mouth and meeting that tongue with his own, blushing as he heard himself let out a soft, involuntary moan.

If Yuuri was smart, he would have been concerned, meeting an unknown man in a dark hotel room and then being kissed by said man. But in that moment Yuuri was not smart, because he had a sweet tongue in his mouth, moans on his lips, and a warm body pressing in all the right places against his own. Yuuri was drunk on the taste of this man, high on his touch, and with every caress and every gasp his head spun and, oh, he wanted  _ more.  _ He found himself whining in protest when the other man pulled away, still pressed against him but far enough away to speak.

“I’m sorry… I got carried away.” there was a hint of a laugh in his words, and he sounded just as breathless as Yuuri felt.

“Don’t be sorry… I did too.” Yuuri found himself smiling softly even though the other man wouldn’t be able to see it. “I think I know what you meant by ‘special’ now…”

Yuuri felt a soft kiss placed on his forehead, lingering for a moment before ice-life-love pulled away. “Oh, more special than you know.”

Yuuri swallowed, taking a deep breath before speaking. “I think I should tell you my name. You don’t have to tell me yours, but I don’t want myself to be anonymous anymore.”

He felt the other man nod, and Yuuri leaned forward so that he could whisper directly into his ear. “My name is Yuuri Katsuki.”

“Yuuri… Oh your name is as beautiful as I thought it would be.” Yuuri felt himself blush at that, feeling the taller man holding him tighter in a warm hug.

They stood like that for what felt like an eternity, but at the same time not long enough. But Yuuri knew he would have to go, he couldn’t stay there forever, even if he wanted to. Pulling away from the embrace, he leaned up and placed a soft kiss to the other man’s lips before pulling entirely out of his hold. “I should go. But…”

“But?”

Yuuri smiled sadly. “Can I come back tomorrow?”

A soft chuckle. “Oh, Yuuri, of course.”

And at the sound of his name being spoken so sweetly, so tenderly, Yuuri knew nothing could stop him from coming back the next day.

========================================

Yuuri Katsuki. His name was Yuuri Katsuki.

As soon as Yuuri had left, Victor had turned the lights back on and grabbed his phone, instantly typing the name into google.

Victor went through everything he could find, trying to absorb as much info as he could. Before long he found himself on YouTube, and was watching Yuuri’s routines from that season. He’d been the silver medalist in Japan’s nationals, beaten by the gold medalist by only a few points, and he’d gotten bronze at Four Continents. While the other man wasn’t particularly technically gifted, he certainly made up for it in his presentation. Victor was absorbed into Yuuri’s routines, and found himself wondering why he hadn’t qualified for Worlds.

Video after video, routine after routine, Victor was up late into the night watching Yuuri skate, and before he let himself fall asleep, he opened the penpal app to send one final message.

**ice-life-love said:**

Yuuri, I looked you up and… wow… you’re so amazing. I wish I could have seen you skate here at worlds, because you certainly deserve it.

Victor felt his eyelids grow heavy, but before they finally fell shut, he saw katsudamn’s reply.

**katsudamn said:**

Thanks :) <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: things get a little bit spicy ;)
> 
> Hopefully this next update won't take an entire month to do xD
> 
> Kudos and comments are always very much appreciated!!!
> 
> For regular updates on how this fic is going, visit my tumblr @katsudonfatale <3
> 
> https://katsudonfatale.tumblr.com/


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating goes back up to E because I got really carried away and this chapter is incredibly spicy!! We've got some new tags people!!
> 
> This chapter is the longest one to date, about 3,900 words!! I hope y'all enjoy this treat, cuz I dunno if I will be able to do such a long chapter again hahaha!!

When Yuuri got back to his hotel room, he calmly closed the door, leaned back against it, and slid down it to sit on the floor.

Phichit, who was sitting on his bed and scrolling through his phone, gave him a confused look. “Uh… You okay there, bud?”

“Phichit… He kissed me…” Yuuri mumbled.

Phichit’s eyes widened. “He  _ what?” _

“He  _ kissed _ me.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“Oh my gosh, Yuuri! And he somehow did that while staying anonymous too?” Phichit got off the bed and hurried over to where Yuuri was still sitting against the door, plopping down next to him.

Yuuri nodded, “He had something covering the windows to block the city light from coming in, probably black out curtains or something. And he was away from the door when I went in, so any light from the hallway didn’t reach him while the door was open. Also,” Yuuri paused a moment before continuing, “I told him my real name before I left. And I’m going back tomorrow night.”

Phichit stared at him a moment, contemplation crossing his face before being replaced by a mischievous grin. “Oh, I see. Yuuri, you’re so dirty. At least promise me you’ll be safe.”

Yuuri felt his face turn beet red, shoving Phichit as far away from himself as he could. “Uh, nope, not having this conversation.”

Phichit’s grin grew wider and more sinister, the younger man now chuckling as he attempted to get closer to Yuuri again. “Yuuri! Don’t be shy! Hey, I’ll go to the store with you in the morning and help you buy some stuff!”

Yuuri got up quickly, dashing to his bed and promptly burrito-ing himself in the blankets, all while chanting, “Nope nope nope nope nope!”

“Yuuuuuuuurrrriiiiiiiiiiiii!” Phichit teased in a sing-song voice, poking the Yuuri-shaped lump under the blankets. 

“Good night, Phichit!” Yuuri called, his voice muffled from behind his blanket burrito.

Phichit sighed, turning out the lights before getting back into his own bed. “Alright alright, I’m done. Night Yuuri.”

But Yuuri couldn’t actually sleep, kept awake by the memory of that kiss. Of ice-life-love's lips hot against his own. He really didn’t know what to think, or how to feel about it. In the moment it all felt right, but looking back Yuuri wondered if this was the right thing to do. Before that night, he’d been content just being friends with ice-life-love, and it hadn’t even crossed his mind that the other man might have feelings for him. Hadn’t crossed his mind if he might have feelings for him as well. It felt so out of nowhere to Yuuri.

And yet Yuuri couldn’t really find it in himself to regret what happened. The way it had felt to have ice-life-love pressed against him, it felt right in a way he hadn’t ever felt before. While Yuuri was certainly no virgin, even just kissing the other skater felt new and exciting. It left Yuuri wanting more, and he found himself excited for the next time he’d be able to see the other man. 

As Yuuri felt his mind begin to slow down and his eyelids begin to grow heavy, his phone chimed from where it was still in his pocket. He pulled it out, unlocking it and opening the penpal app, smiling at the message when it came up.

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** Yuuri, I looked you up and… wow… you’re so amazing. I wish I could have seen you skate here at worlds, because you certainly deserve it.

Blushing, Yuuri quickly sent his reply, a smile on his face as he drifted off.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Thanks :) <3

The next day Yuuri spent doing more sightseeing with Phichit, the daylight preventing him from being able to see ice-life-love again. While his body was physically following Phichit around the city, his mind was wandering, as it was prone to do. Too many times Yuuri found himself thinking about the previous night, and then promptly having to shove the thoughts away before they made his body react in a way that was absolutely not appropriate while he was still in public.

As lunch time came around, he and Phichit made their way into a small cafe. Yuuri ordered himself a simple turkey sandwich - on wheat since he knew he couldn’t pig out the entire weekend - and a green tea. They sat near a window and chatted idly as they ate their food, when Yuuri felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He checked it excitedly, a small smile playing on his face as he saw it was ice-life-love.

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** YUUUUURRRRRRIIIIIIIIII

Yuuri found himself chuckling at the simple message, replying in kind.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Whaaaaaaaat? :o

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** practice is so boooooorrrinnggggg. Yakov won’t give me a break!! He says I’m “not emoting right”. Honestly, I think he’s just making up excuses so he can keep an eye on me. He didn’t like that I left early the other day, or showed up hungover yesterday… 

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Maybe if you were actually responsible he would leave you be :P

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** Yuuri, so mean to me!! 😭😭😭

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** please tell me your day is going better than mine. 

Yuuri laughed at his friend’s woes, then pulled up his camera app. “Hey Peach, c’mere so I can get a selfie to send to ice-life-love.”

Phichit beamed, always eager for a good selfie op. “Yuuri! Willingly taking a selfie? Whatever ice-life-love has been doing to you, it needs to happen more often!”

Yuuri felt his cheeks flush slightly at what his friend implied, and just raised his arm and beckoned him to get closer, “Shut up and take a selfie with me before I change my mind.”

“Yes sir!” Phichit jumped up from his seat across from Yuuri and sat instead in the one next to him, and Yuuri draped his arm around the younger skater’s shoulders. Positioning the camera so he got both of them and their food, Yuuri took the picture and sent it with a caption.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Oh, just enjoying this cute cafe, nothing too exciting. 😋🥪🍵

[img.jpeg]

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** Looks amazing!! I wish I could join you <3

Yuuri felt a twinge of sadness at the reply, the implication that it was not just because the other was practicing, but because of his forced anonymity. Yuuri bit his lip and sent a quick reply before he could second guess himself.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** I mean, you’re always welcome to join us…

After a few minutes and still no reply, Yuuri hurried to send another, worried he’d offended his friend somehow.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Only if you want to of course! Sorry… I shouldn’t have said that… I know your identity is too important....

It wasn’t until him and Phichit had finished eating and were walking back to their hotel that he got a reply from ice-life-love

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** Oh gosh, Yuuri, I’m sorry for the late reply!! 😭 I had to get back to practicing because Yakov was yelling at me to get off my phone and focus, I didn’t have a chance to let you know. 

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** and it’s alright if I can’t hang out with you. we still have tonight, да?

Yuuri blushed at the reminder, grateful it was cold out so that he could blame it on the wind should Phichit notice.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Yeah, tonight. 8 sound good?

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** 8 it is. I can’t wait 💜💜💜

========================================

For Victor, the afternoon went by slowly, and the evening leading up to his next meeting with Yuuri even slower. First he had to finish practice, then he had meetings with sponsors to take care of, and after that Yakov and the other coaches took the entire Russian team out for dinner as a last chance to gather together before the big competition. Overall, a very boring day.

By the time Victor managed to get back to his hotel room it was already 7:45pm and he had to rush to shower before Yuuri would get there. Once he was out of the shower it was 7:58pm, and he quickly shut off all the lights and drew the curtains shut. It was 8:02pm when he heard a soft knock, and only moments later did the door open then close again. 

A soft, sweet voice spoke into the darkness, music to Victor’s ears. “Hey… Sorry I’m late, Phichit kept fussing over how I look even though I told him it’s going to be dark anyway, but he insisted on making me look good, and oh my god I’m babbling, sorry.”

Victor let out a low chuckle as he stepped across the room to where Yuuri was still standing by the door. He reached out a hand and found Yuuri’s own, grasping it in reassurance. “I think it’s cute when you ramble like that.” Victor brought Yuuri’s hand up to his lips, placing a gentle kiss across his knuckles.

He heard a quiet gasp come from the other man, and used it as motivation to continue, pulling Yuuri closer and placing his free hand on his waist. He then leaned forward so their foreheads were touching, simply enjoying the closeness that they had as he intertwined their fingers. “Yuuri…” he whispered into the darkness.

A tiny huff came from the shorter man, and Victor felt him lean forward to connect their lips in a soft, chaste kiss. Victor returned the kiss gratefully, pulling him closer by the waist, enjoying how well their bodies slotted together. Like two puzzle pieces finally joined.

It didn’t take long before the kiss began to heat up, Yuuri licking up into Victor’s mouth, and Victor meeting that tongue with his own. Heavy breaths began to pant against kiss-swollen lips, and Victor trailed his kisses away from Yuuri’s mouth, along his jaw up to his ear. He gently nipped at the lobe with his teeth, drawing a sharp gasp that only spurred him to go further, trailing the kisses down to his neck, where he gently sucked on his pulse point, eliciting a soft moan to come from his sweet lips as Victor marked his neck. Victor moved the hand that was on Yuuri’s waist down to grab at his ass, smirking at just how soft it felt.

Yuuri let out another moan, and Victor felt his hips grind forward in response to the groping, and let out his own moan when he felt the hardness in Yuuri’s pants rub against his thigh. Victor ground his hips back, his own cock rubbing deliciously against Yuuri’s hip.

Victor whined when he felt Yuuri push him away slightly, frowning at the loss of contact.

“Bed. Now.” The words were full of surety Victor hadn’t heard from the man before, and it made him growl with lust as he was pushed backward until his knees hit the bed and he was forced to sit down. Yuuri climbed on top of him, straddling Victor’s hips as he leaned down to place his own kisses against Victor’s neck.

“Yuuri, c-careful. I have a competition tomorrow, remember?” Victor struggled to get the words out, wanting nothing more than to be marked by his Yuuri.

Victor could feel the other man frown against his neck, then it turned to a smirk. Yuuri came up enough to whisper in Victor’s ear, “I guess I’ll have to mark you where no one can see then.”

Before Victor could ask what he meant by that, he felt the other man tug at the bottom of his shirt, and Victor raised his arms as he began to understand where this was going, allowing Yuuri to pull off his t-shirt and toss it to who-knows-where. He shivered as he felt Yuuri’s cold fingertips trace light touches along his muscles, as if trying to form an image of him through touch alone.

Needing to be closer, Victor leaned up into Yuuri, reconnecting their lips in a heated kiss, which only broke when Yuuri’s shirt was also removed and discarded into the darkness. Yuuri ground his hips down onto Victor’s, their cocks rubbing together through too many layers of fabric in Victor’s honest opinion. He slowly dipped his fingers into the band of Yuuri’s pants in silent permission, and took the responding moan as the go-ahead to tug them down. Yuuri raised himself so they would come down easier, and with a little bit of adjusting, both Yuuri’s pants and boxers were tossed away.

Victor took hold of Yuuri, both hands holding to the man’s thighs, as he scooted up the bed so they were fully on it. Once they were situated properly, Victor felt Yuuri push on his shoulders, forcing him to lay down with Yuuri hovering over him. Victor shuddered as he felt Yuuri’s lips trail kisses from his lips, along his jaw, and down his neck.

Victor gasped a moan when he felt Yuuri stroke his cock through his pants, as the younger man whispered against his neck, “You’re wearing too many clothes.”

Victor groaned at the lust in Yuuri’s voice, barely managing to whisper back, “Maybe… you should remedy that…”

Instead of a reply, Victor felt Yuuri trail more kisses down his body, from his neck to his collarbone, down his chest to latch onto his left nipple. Victor whined when he felt a warm tongue against his skin, as Yuuri sucked while slowly pulling down his pants and boxers in one move.

At the beginning of the night, Victor had assumed he was going to be the dominant one in bed, but of course his Yuuri is full of surprises, and Victor gratefully let him lead the show. It wasn’t often that Victor got to bottom, and he found himself enjoying being under the man. Every wet kiss, every sweet touch, it all sent electricity through his body and he could feel the energy making him pent up. Victor let himself go, taking advantage of the anonymity to just forget being perfect for a moment, and let himself be thoroughly ravished.

While Victor was lost in his thoughts, Yuuri had resumed trailing kisses down his body, sucking more marks along his chest, down his stomach, and along his hip. Yuuri was now on his belly between Victor’s legs, kissing along his inner thigh, making sure to leave marks there as well. Apparently Yuuri was certainly going to make up for not being able to mark Victor anywhere visible, but Victor could hardly care less and absolutely loved the thought of skating tomorrow covered in hidden love-bites from his Yuuri.

Victor found himself panting by the time Yuuri made his way up Victor’s thigh, kisses almost where he wanted them most, and it seemed the man was bent on teasing him there. With a whine, Victor pleaded, “Y-Yuuri… please… I- fuck… I need…” 

“Oh? What do you need, dear?” The ghost of Yuuri’s breath hit warm against Victor’s cock as the younger man spoke, making Victor whine even more.

“You… I don’t care how, j-just  _ touch me, Yuuri…”  _ Victor panted.

“Touch you? Like this?” and before Victor could ask how, he felt Yuuri lick a long stripe up the underside of his cock, from balls to tip, before just taking the head in and running his tongue along the slit to lap up the precum already beading there.

Victor let out a loud moan, not caring if there might be people in the room next door to hear him. He gripped the bed sheets, letting out a low groan as he felt Yuuri take more and more of his cock into his mouth until he felt the head hit the back of the other man’s throat. He felt Yuuri swallow, and gripped the sheets tighter as he willed himself to not fuck up into that sweet mouth.

Yuuri pulled his head back, then sank back down until the entirety of Victor’s cock was enveloped in his mouth, causing the Russian to spit out various curse words in his native tongue. Yuuri pulled back a bit so as not to choke, stroking the rest with his hand, then started a steady rhythm up and down that had Victor gasping and moaning and begging -  _ pleading _ \- for more. This man had the tongue of a god, and was taking Victor apart piece by piece, unraveling him into a whining mess, on the edge but never close enough for release.

“Y-Yuuri! Please!” Victor begged, reaching down to tangle the fingers of his right hand into Yuuri’s soft hair, “I’m so- ah- so close!”

Yuuri quickened his pace, pulling moan after moan from Victor’s lips as he got closer and closer. As Yuuri’s head pulled up, he sucked hard on the head of Victor’s cock, flicking his tongue over the slit, and sending Victor over the edge, shouting the other’s name. Yuuri swallowed as much of Victor’s spend as he could, some of it escaping and dripping down his chin. Victor gasped, trying to catch his breath, as the other man crawled back up his body, placing gentler kisses in a trail until he reached Victor’s lips. The kiss was slow and unhurried, and Victor could taste himself on Yuuri’s tongue.

When Yuuri pulled away, Victor had to ask, “How the hell did you learn to do that, because that was… amazing…”

Yuuri chuckled, the air from it hitting warm against Victor’s cheek, “Too much booze at American college parties combined with a lot of horny bi-curious frat boys.”

Victor let out a soft laugh at that, then leaned up to nuzzle his face into the other’s neck. “Now, what about you? You still haven’t been touched,  _ солнышко _ .” He placed a gentle kiss on Yuuri’s neck. “If you want, I would love for you to take me.”

The younger man groaned above him. “I would, but you have to compete tomorrow. And in my experience, that isn’t fun after receiving.”

Victor whined, wanting nothing more to be taken in that moment, even if he was already spent. “Don’t care. Want you.”

Victor could feel Yuuri shake his head above him. “No, I won’t do that to you. But there is something else we could try that is a decent substitute.”

“Please, anything.” Victor pleaded, wanting to give Yuuri at least half of the ecstasy that he had been given.

“Do you have any lube?”

Victor nodded, then remembered Yuuri couldn’t see him and replied, “Yes, in the bedside table, top drawer.”

Victor heard Yuuri shuffling and digging through the drawer until he found what he was looking for, then moved back to kneel between Victor’s legs. “Turn on your side.”

Victor did as he was told and rolled onto his left side, feeling the bed dip as Yuuri moved to get behind him. The younger man slipped a hand between Victor’s thighs, parting them slightly, and Victor heard the pop of the lube cap as Yuuri squirted some into his hand, then proceeded to rub the lube along the small gap between Victor’s inner thighs. Victor bit his lip as he began to understand what Yuuri was doing. Yuuri squirted more lube into his hand, rubbing it along his own cock and gasping at finally being able to touch himself. Yuuri placed a hand on Victor’s outer right thigh, putting gentle pressure there to get him to press them back together, then pushed his cock in between them with a low moan.

Victor couldn’t help but groan as he felt Yuuri start to thrust into his thighs, imagining what it would be like if those thrusts were instead penetrating deep into his ass. Victor ground his hips back in time with Yuuri’s thrusts, and he could feel his dick trying to show interest, though he was too spent to really hope to get it up again. Before long, Yuuri’s thrusts started to lose the steady rhythm as he drew closer and closer to the edge, until he came with a moan between Victor’s thighs.

They stayed like that for a few moments as Yuuri came down from his high, but too soon Yuuri’s cum began to cool uncomfortably on Victor’s thighs, and he knew he would have to get up to clean himself. As he started to move to get something to wipe off with, he felt Yuuri place a hand on his hip to stop him, and felt a soft kiss on his shoulder as well.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get us a wet rag to clean with. I’m going to turn on the bathroom light for a moment, but don’t worry; I won’t look into the room while the light is on.” Yuuri got up, and Victor heard as the other man walked to the bathroom.

Victor blinked as a little light filtered into the room, rolling onto his back so the light wasn’t as directly on his face. He heard as Yuuri cleaned himself and got what he needed to clean Victor in turn. The room was sent back into darkness before Yuuri stepped out of the bathroom, just as the man promised, and Victor couldn’t help but feel his heart swell with affection at how much Yuuri respected his privacy like that. Victor felt the bed dip as Yuuri got back onto it, and a shiver went up his spine as the other man used a warm, wet cloth to wipe down his thighs.

Once Victor was clean, Yuuri moved to lay next to Victor and curled up into his side, his head resting comfortably against Victor’s chest. Victor raised a hand up to softly pet Yuuri’s hair, a small smile tugging at his lips as he felt Yuuri reach for Victor’s free hand to intertwine their fingers. A soft contented sigh left the smaller man’s lips, and he curled deeper into Victor, their legs tangling and they lay there together in post-coital bliss.

“I wish I could stay here like this…” Victor heard Yuuri whisper, though it sounded more like a comment to himself, and perhaps one Victor wasn’t really meant to hear.

Victor replied anyway though, “Me too…” He paused a moment, before breaking the silence again. “If you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

Victor knew he was being impulsive; he knew he was being reckless. But the way that Yuuri kept showing respect for Victor and his decision to remain anonymous, how Yuuri seemed to refuse to read too much into whatever hints Victor had accidentally let slip, it all led to one thing. Victor knew he could trust Yuuri with his identity, the other man had proven himself time and time again.

“You don’t have to,” Yuuri whispered after a few moments of silence, “I’m content just like this for now.”

Victor felt his mood drop slightly at that. “Are you still worried about it affecting my skating?”

Victor felt as Yuuri moved his head in a small hesitant nod. “I don’t want to mess you up.”

“You won’t.” Victor turned and buried his nose in Yuuri’s soft raven locks. “But if it makes you feel better, how about after the competition is over?”

Yuuri was silent for awhile, before replying with a simple, “Maybe…”

Victor found he could be content with that, and allowed them to go back to comfortable silence. He would enjoy holding his Yuuri, all the way up until the moment came that Yuuri would once again have to leave.

This was how it had to be, if only for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: The short program is under way!!
> 
> Also, if enough people want it, I'll write this chapter from Yuuri's POV as well!
> 
> Kudos and comments are always much appreciated!! And check out my tumblr for regular updates on the story!
> 
> https://katsudonfatale.tumblr.com/


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Phichit have a heart to heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, a couple things before we get started... First, I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK A MONTH AND A HALF TO UPDATE OH MY GOD. I'd overworked and burnt myself out on this fic so bad trying to meet minimum word lengths I'd set for myself, and the fic suffered for it. That being said, this chapter and all others following won't be as long. I don't want to burn myself out again. I also had to take a break from writing longer fics in general because I'd been dealing with very heavy mental health issues on top of almost being evicted.
> 
> Also, I know last time I said we'd cover the short program in this chapter, but I didn't quite make it to that. But, this chapter is VERY important for what happens going forward, so don't think I'm holding out on ya! ;)
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this addition <3

Yuuri awoke to the sounds of Phichit walking around the hotel room and getting ready for the day, groaning slightly at the early hour given how late he had stayed up with ice-life-love. Thoughts of their passionate night together flooded his brain, and Yuuri found himself blushing as he tried to shake them away, sitting up in bed and rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes.

Phichit noticed his friend was finally awake, and practically skipped over to where Yuuri was barely waking up, sitting on the bed and making himself comfortable with his legs crossed. “Okay, Katsuki, spill it. And don’t try to deny it, you have 3 hickies on your neck.”

Yuuri’s hands immediately went to his neck as he let out a squeak. “What time is it? Shouldn’t we be getting ready to go to the stadium soon?” Yuuri said, mostly to avoid talking about last night.

Phichit, however, wasn’t taking the bait, and waved his hand in clear dismissal. “We don’t need to leave for a few more hours since we’ll just be in the audience today. Now,” Phichit gave Yuuri a devious grin, “tell me about last night. You’re not sitting funny, so did you not go that far? Or… Oh my god, Yuuri, did you top?”

“I’m guessing privacy isn’t in your dictionary.” Yuuri deadpanned with a huff.

“Only when it comes to my best friend.” Phichit gave Yuuri a wink. “Details, please and thank you. Or I’ll track down your boyfriend and get it from him instead.”

“Do that and I won’t let you install that new hamster castle in the living room.” Yuuri stood up, replacing his glasses on his face, and stretching the sleep from his muscles.

Phichit made a look of mock terror, completed with an offended gasp. “How. Dare. You.”

Yuuri raised a brow at his friend, as if to challenge him.

Phichit huffed, then relaxed a bit and gave Yuuri a softer expression. “In all seriousness, Yuuri, were you okay last night? I mean judging by the evidence I’d say yes.”

Yuuri rolled his eyes at the last comment, but returned Phichit’s soft smile with one of his own. “Yes, everything last night was… I don’t know. It was good, but different. I…” Yuuri trailed off as he began to think about the night more objectively. “Phichit, can I ask you something?”

Phichit gave him a concerned but attentive look. “Of course, Yuuri, anything.”

Yuuri sighed, sitting back down on the bed and looking down at his lap as he spoke, not able to look his friend in the eyes. “Peach… Am I rushing into this? Is it all going to be a big mistake in the end?” Yuuri could feel his anxiety growing now that he’d said his fears aloud, but the dam had been broken and everything was just tumbling out now. “What if all this time he just wanted to get in my pants and I just gave him what he wanted? Oh god, what if everything he’s let slip about his identity so far is all a lie and a ruse to make me think he’s someone he’s not. What if-”

Yuuri is cut off by Phichit covering his mouth with his hands. “Yuuri, I want you to breathe with me, okay?” Phichit waited for Yuuri to nod, then started counting breaths until he calmed down.

“Feeling better?”

Yuuri nods.

“Are you gonna talk about this calmly when I remove my hands?”

Slightly more hesitant nod.

Phichit sighs. “Alright, good enough.” Phichit removes his hands, looking at Yuuri with a worried expression. “You know none of that is true, right?”

Yuuri pulls his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them to hug them to his body. He rests his chin on his knees, looking down as he speaks. “Do I know that though? There’s no way for me to be sure about any of this. I don’t know who he is, how am I supposed to be okay with that? He’s offered many times to tell me who he is, but how will I know if he’s telling the truth or not? For all I know he might not even be competing here and is just lying about it!”

“Yuuri…” Phichit’s voice is uncharacteristically quiet and hesitant. Yuuri looks up at his friend, and is shocked at the look on his face. Phichit looks almost guilty, and definitely like he knows something.

“Phichit… what is it?” Yuuri asked, looking to his friend with concern.

Yuuri watched as Phichit chewed on the inside of his cheek, as if trying to figure out what to say. It made Yuuri’s anxiety spike again, wondering all the things that his friend could be about to tell him.

Phichit sighed, then looked Yuuri in the eyes. “Okay, I’d like to start this by saying I love you, you’re the bestest most amazing friend a guy could ask for, and I’d never do anything to intentionally hurt you. So you have to promise not to be mad. I was sworn to secrecy and I’m only telling you because you need to hear it.”

Yuuri simply nodded, not trusting his voice as he felt his chest begin to constrict. He knew logically that Phichit wouldn’t hurt him, but the part of his brain that supplied worst case scenarios went much faster than the logical part of his brain. Yuuri held his breath as we willed himself to calm down.

“Yuuri… Please don’t hate me when I tell you this.” Phichit said, a pleading look in his eye. “I know who your penpal is…”

“Wait, what?” Yuuri felt his breath release all at once, the anxiety in his brain being immediately replaced with confusion.

“I know who it is.” Phichit repeated.

“Oh.” Yuuri stared at Phichit blankly as his mind caught up, then his eyes widened when he realized the gravity of what his roommate said. “Wait… How long have you known?”

Phichit sighed, “Only a few days. My penpal ended up being Mila Babicheva. We sort of discovered it after talking about others we knew who joined the site. Apparently ice-life-love talks about you a lot during practice.”

"Really?" Yuuri blushed at the thought of the man talking about Yuuri to the people around him. Then he caught something Phichit said. "Wait wait wait… Mila Babicheva? As in  _ the  _ Mila Babicheva?"

Phichit sighed as he realized his faux pax. "Yes?"

Yuuri rested his elbows on his knees and threaded his fingers through his hair as he thought. He didn't like what his brain was supplying him with, but all the puzzle pieces fit together, and if he was being honest with himself, Yuuri knew he would have to accept this outcome eventually. Without looking up, he spoke softly, "It's Victor Nikiforov, isn't it?"

"Surprise?" Phichit said with a strained laugh, waiting for Yuuri to react before saying more.

Yuuri just sighed, letting himself fall over so his head was resting in his friend's lap. He felt his face flush as a realization came to him, and he let out a loud groan.

"Yuuri? You okay bud?" Phichit asked, worry lacing his voice.

Yuuri just pulled a pillow over his head as he whined. "I can't believe I topped Victor Fucking Nikiforov, oh my god."

"You've also got hella good hickies from Victor Fucking Nikiforov." Phichit supplied.

"Not helping, Peach."

"Sorry."

"No you're not."

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't fall for that."

Yuuri looks up at him from behind the pillow, unamused.

Phichit laughs, a shit-eating grin spread across his face. "Oh, you know you love me!"

"Regretfully" Yuuri says despite smiling, swinging the pillow at Phichit's face, the Thai man catching it before it makes contact.

"For real though, you okay, bud?" Phichit asks, his eyes softening. "This is a lot to process."

"Understatement of the century right there." Yuuri sighs. "I can't really say I'm surprised though. Pretty sure I figured it out when he mentioned his coach was Yakov Feltsman. There's just one problem…"

"What is it?"

Yuuri sits up again, clutching the pillow to his chest. "He doesn't know that I know that he's Victor Nikiforov. How am I going to tell him that I know? Hell,  _ when  _ am I going to tell him that I know?"

"You could just message him now and just say you figured it out." Phichit says with a shrug of a shoulder. "Knowing you, you'll just stress over it until it makes you explode, so might as well just rip the bandaid off."

"You make it sound so easy. I can't just say that…" Yuuri twists his hands together as the nerves start to settle in. "I think I'll wait until the competition is over, then I'll tell him. I just need more time to process this on my own."

"Okay, bud." Phichit says, pulling Yuuri into a hug. "Sorry I kept it from you. Mila made me swear I wouldn't tell you. She wanted to try playing matchmaker, but it looks like it kinda backfired, huh?"

Yuuri chuckled softly, "Yeah…"

"Just promise me you won't let this consume you, and if you need to vent I'm always here, okay?"

"Okay, mom." Yuuri says, rolling his eyes.

"Now, we have a competition to watch. Get dressed young man!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun Dun DUUUUUUN


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor gears up for the short program!

Victor groaned as his alarm went off for the umpteenth time, reaching blindly on the bed next to him to tap the snooze button again. Yakov had woken him up early that morning for public practice and interviews before the competition started, and once all of that was done Victor went straight back to his hotel room to try and catch up on sleep. He and Yuuri had ended up snuggling the previous night until the wee hours of the morning, and while his body was rebelling against him for staying up so late, Victor couldn't bring himself to regret it one bit. The night was perfect, and even though the sex wasn't necessarily traditional, it was  _ amazing.  _ Victor hoped Yuuri would let them go further next time.

Next time… Oh how Victor hoped there would be a next time. Maybe they would switch positions, or maybe Yuuri would actually take him! Victor loved the thought of that. Victor groaned as he got up, realizing  _ other  _ parts of him enjoyed that thought as well, maybe a little too much. 

Victor turned on the shower to cold, hoping it would help calm him down before the competition in just under two hours. Yakov was no doubt fuming by now, knowing Victor was sleeping the day away as he often did right before competitions.

After his shower, Victor checked his phone and replied to texts, and smiled when he saw a message from Yuuri.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Udachi ice-life-love! :)

It was a simple message. Just a short wish of good luck to him. But oh how it dug deep into his heart. The fact that Yuuri had thought to wish him luck in Russian, rather than just in English… Victor grinned widely as he quickly typed a reply to him, double checking online so he wouldn’t misspell anything.

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** Arigatou!!  (੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧ I will be skating for you today, my dear <3

Victor quickly got his things together, and made his way to the rink. Once he arrived, he got a scolding from Yakov, but he just shrugged it off with a smile and a laugh as he always did. He made his way to the locker room, quickly getting into his costume and making sure his hair was styled right. Victor then made his way back to Yakov in the skater’s area, the coach watching on the mounted television as the second to last group took to the ice for their six minute warm-up. Victor was in the last group, and last to skate overall as well, so it would be a while before he had to skate his routine.

The competition was tough this year, and it made Victor at least a little thrilled to participate. If he won, it would be his third consecutive World's gold. Considering he got gold at all the previous competitions that season, many thought it guaranteed that he would win, but Victor didn't like to think like that. Any one of the skaters here today could take the gold, and Victor wasn't immune to falling either. It had been a while since he'd fallen at a competition, but that didn't mean he never fell or could never fall. Nothing was set in stone.

“Victor!”

Victor turned around to where he heard his name being called from, smiling as he recognized the voice and then the face of his friend approaching him. Victor waved and met him halfway. “Chris! It’s good to see you.”

Chris pulled Victor into a hug. “It’s been too long, chérie, I thought you forgot about me!” Even though there was a pout in his voice, Chris was grinning widely at Victor.

Victor laughed. “How could I forget about you? It’s not like you’d let me!”

Chris winked at him, dropping his bag next to Victor’s and falling into his own stretches next to the Russian. “Well, you’ve been so busy with  _ something  _ and it’s kept you away from me.” Chris stuck his lower lip out and batted his eyes, pulling another laugh from Victor.

“I had good reason to, Chris. I was with another friend.” Victor stated, reaching forward to grab both his feet in a stretch.

Chris gave Victor a suspicious look. “Okay, what were you really doing, because we both know I’m your only friend.”

“Okay, first, ouch,” Victor frowned at his friend, “And second, I do have another friend. You know, the one from that pen pal website you forced me to sign up for?”

Chris immediately lit up. “Your pen pal? He’s here?”

Victor nodded.

Chris launched into a tirade of questions, seemingly without breathing, “Who is he? Is he a skater? Or just in the audience?”

“Yuuri Katsuki. He’s a skater, but didn’t qualify for Worlds this year so he’s just watching from the audience.” Victor explained, standing up to do wall stretches.

Chris just stared up at him from the floor. “Wait, Yuuri Katsuki? The skater from Japan?”

“Yeah, do you know him?” Victor raised a brow at his friend.

Chris nodded with a softer smile. “Yeah, we met in Juniors. I think I was the first friend he made on the international circuit. He’s really shy and usually takes awhile to open up to others. He’s like a little deer, it’s honestly kind of adorable.”

Victor smiled as he thought about the man. “Yeah…”

Chris’ eyes lit up as he got an idea. “Hey, we should all go out together for lunch tomorrow!”

Victor shook his head and frowned. “That’s gonna be a problem since, uh, he doesn’t exactly know who I am yet…”

Chris looked confused, “How the hell did you manage that?”

Victor shrugged, “Black out curtains and no lights. Honestly I’m surprised it worked.”

Chris put his hand to his chin in thought, a look that Victor had learned to fear in the 10 years he’d known the man. “Chris, I really don’t like it when you make that face. What are you plotting?”

“Oh nothing! Just make sure you find me again after interviews tonight, I gotta question you more!” Chris grinned widely.

Before Victor could respond, however, the last skater of the previous group finished his routine, and Yakov called him over to finish getting ready. When the announcer echoed through the stadium that it was time for the final group to begin their six minute warm-up, Victor went to the barrier, removed his skate guards, and took to the ice…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so next chapter there is actual skating I promise! We will be seeing it from Yuuri's POV!
> 
> Next chapter is already almost done so I should be getting it up soon! I'm in quarantine because I'm sick. Don't worry, the COVID test I did came up negative but the doctor told me to stay home anyway to keep others from getting sick with something weirdly similar in symptoms to a mild COVID case. So I'm gonna try to spend my new free time to write!!
> 
> Edit (11/02/20) - some minor spelling edits


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri is thirsty and Victor Nikiforov is the tall glass of water he craves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter??? Already??? I told y'all it was almost done! It was going to be longer, but I'm having troubles with the next scene haha. That being said, I should finish next chapter soon-ish, provided my muse returns lmao.
> 
> This chapter is literally just Yuuri thirsting after Victor, with a side dish of Phichit and Chris being themselves.
> 
> In case the link doesn't work, the song Victor skates to is Once Upon A Dream by Lana Del Ray

Yuuri cheered as the last group took to the ice. There were a few skaters he recognized by face but not by name, as well as Jean Jaques Leroy, Christophe Giacometti, and finally… Victor. Yuuri blushed as he remembered the message he received that afternoon.

_I will be skating for you today, my dear <3 _

It was horrible that Victor didn't know that Yuuri knew, and he grew more anxious about it the more he thought about it. But watching Victor skate, even if it was just the warm-up, and knowing it was for him… Yuuri felt like he was on cloud 9.

The fact that Victor could have, did have, such feelings for Yuuri felt absolutely unbelievable. Yuuri kept having to pinch himself to try and fully convince himself that this was reality and not some strange but specific dream. So even though the guilt was eating at him for not telling Victor, he couldn't find himself regretting getting Phichit to tell him who it was. Yuuri just had to find the confidence to tell Victor.

Yuuri watched excitedly as each skater performed, his excitement only growing as it came closer for Victor's turn. It was different being up in the stands, the energy still charged, but instead of filling him with dread he just felt himself floating on the collective enthusiasm of the crowd. If only he actually could make competition feel this way.

Soon, Victor was stepping onto the ice, making a few laps to greet the crowd and the judges, before stopping in the middle in his starting position.

[ Music started to fade in overhead ](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=lDpw8Gb9oXs&feature=share), and once the lyrics started, Victor took off. The song was haunting at first, the words slow and low. Victor moved with grace that matched, and it took Yuuri's breath away.

Victor was wearing a one-piece costume this time, all black and sparkling in the lights that were pointed at him. It had red accents along the collar and at his hips going down his legs. It fit him perfectly, enhancing his narrow hips and broad shoulders. Hips and shoulders that Yuuri remembered were absolutely _covered_ in lovebites from him. Yuuri thanked the stars that the cold air of the arena had already made his face slightly pink, so maybe the blush raging behind it would go unnoticed. 

Phichit, who seemed to have a radar for whenever Yuuri's face blew up, looked at him and proved him wrong, laughing when he saw how red Yuuri was. That only made the flush in Yuuri's cheeks deepen and grow to reach his ears and chest. He glared at his friend, who simply shrugged and said, “Pace yourself, Yuuri. He’s hardly even started yet.”

Yuuri pouted at his friend, crossing his arms and turning away with a huff, refocusing on Victor’s routine. Yuuri paid attention as Victor bent backwards into a beautiful ina bauer, and it absolutely took Yuuri’s breath away. The move wasn’t as perfect as it was in Victor’s younger years, age taking away some of his flexibility, but Yuuri found it captivating anyway. Victor always moved with a grace that seemed to make up for any other flaws that may be there. Yuuri blushed as he realized Victor kissed in the same way that he skated, passionate and seemingly effortless, and in a way that was sure to take Yuuri’s breath away.

When Victor launched into his signature quad flip, Yuuri couldn’t help but marvel at the power behind the move, as he always did. His eyes following the lines of Victor’s body as he jumped, Yuuri’s mind helpfully supplied just how strong Victor’s thighs felt around him. Yuuri took a deep breath to calm himself. Curse Phichit for telling him, this was the longest three minutes of his life.

With every twist and turn, every flick of his wrist and longing look in his eyes, Victor captivated the audience, but most of all he captivated Yuuri. Because, as he had said earlier that day, this routine was for him tonight. This loving routine that Victor skated to with expertise and filled with desire, Yuuri still found himself looking on in disbelief. There was no way Victor would dedicate his skating to him.

Eventually, like all routines, Victor’s had to come to an end, and it did so with a thunder of applause from the audience. Victor smiled and bowed, waving at everyone, but when he turned towards the audience where Yuuri was sitting, he faltered ever so slightly. Their eyes met for a moment, and Victor’s smile seemed to get a little more genuine, it reached his eyes, the edges of them crinkling in a way Yuuri found made him look so much more alive and beautiful.

The moment ended too soon, and Victor was making his way off the ice to the kiss and cry. As the Russian waited for his scores, Yuuri noticed he seemed to be staring right at him the whole time, and it made his face flush a deep red.

Yuuri’s attention was pulled from Victor as his phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see he had a text from none other than Christophe Giacometti. Curious, Yuuri opened the text to read what the swiss had to say.

 **From Sex on Ice 😩💦** **  
**Hey, meet me by the skater only area. I’ll sneak you and your friend in 😘

Yuuri squinted his eyes in suspicion at the message.

 **To Sex on Ice 😩💦** **  
**May I ask why?

 **From Sex on Ice 😩💦** **  
**No

 **From Sex on Ice 😩💦** **  
**Don’t you trust me, mon petit chou? When have I ever done you wrong?

**To Sex on Ice 😩💦** **  
** *sigh* Alright, I’ll be down there after interviews.

Just then, the announcer came on over the speakers with Victor’s scores. To no one’s surprise, Victor’s score shot him straight up to first place. The score wasn’t a new record, but it was still high nonetheless, and Victor seemed to be happy with it. Yuuri turned back to his phone and typed a quick message.

**To Sex on Ice 😩💦** **  
** Oh, and congrats on second. 😄 Good luck keeping it in the free.

**From Sex on Ice 😩💦** **  
** Oh, I plan to do more than keep it. 🥰😍😁💓💗

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Kudos and comments are always appreciated!
> 
> I learned this chapter that I do not enjoy writing skating scenes xD
> 
> [Edit - 11/09/2020] I fucked up, I had them talking about meeting after the medal ceremony even tho it's just the short... SMH I edited the last few lines to be correct with the timeline, but there aren't any big changes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor is gay and Chris is an asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I planned on updating this on Yuuri's bday, but that just Didn't Happen. Sorry it's short, but it's all I can manage right now.
> 
> Eternal love and thanks to my beta SoYoureClairevoyant, who kicks my ass and gives me inspiration at the same time.

Victor sighed in relief as he finally escaped the crowd of journalists, leaning against the now closed doors of the skater only area. While he loved his fans, and interviews never really bothered him, there was only so much a man could take at once. Plus, Victor was looking forward to changing out of his now sweaty costume. The hope of being able to do that was dashed, however, when Chris came up to him with a huge grin on his face.

Victor frowned at him, walking past the Swiss and towards the bench where he had left his gear and bag. “You know, I hate it when you give me that face.”

Chris just sat at the bench across from Victor, still grinning ear-to-ear. “Oh, shush, you won’t hate it when you hear why I’m smiling.”

Victor simply raised a skeptical brow at his friend as he removed his skates and swapped them for his sneakers.

Chris leaned back, gripping the edge of the bench behind him. "I invited Yuuri and his friend to come hang out down here for a bit."

Victor felt slight panic in his chest, but swallowed it down and just frowned at Chris. "Why would you do that?"

"Okay, first, I find this whole situation to be hilarious and I want to be included." Chris said it so casually, as if he expected Victor to already have known that much. "And, I figured, if I pretend to introduce you two tonight, we could all go out to lunch together tomorrow! Yuuri won't know you're his penpal, but you can still hang out with him outside of your little escapades."

Victor rolls his eyes and stuffs his skates into his bag. “And why would I agree to doing that?”

Before he can reply, Chris’ phone chimes, the man looking at it and his evil grin growing into something cartoonish. “Because he’s already waiting by the door, and you don’t have a choice! Come on.”

Victor sighed, realizing he probably wouldn’t get to change out of his costume until he got back to his hotel room. Shrugging on his team jacket, not even bothering to zip it up, he followed Chris to the door to meet with Yuuri.

The doors opened and Victor felt his breath be taken away and a flush paint across his nose and cheeks at the sight of Yuuri in front of him. No shadows or dark rooms to hide him, no blackout curtains to cut off the light. There Yuuri stood at the doors, face down and glasses slightly slid down the bridge of his nose. Victor had to resist the urge to push them back up. He also noticed that Yuuri had three hickeys on his neck, and Victor felt his face go hot when he remembered how he was the one to put them there. Not that Yuuri knew that.

Chris stepped out the doorway, putting his arm around the shorter skater. "Ah, if it isn't Japan's Ass - oh, sorry, I meant  _ ace. _ "

Yuuri rolled his eyes at Chris, and Victor thought it was the cutest thing. "Haha, very funny, Chris. Good to see you, as always."

“It's been too long, mon chou.” Chris said with a wink. “And who’s your friend?” Chris gestured at a dark skinned boy that Victor just noticed was standing next to Yuuri.

The boy steps in front of them with an energy comparable to an excited puppy, holding out his hand with a huge grin. “I’m Phichit Chulanont! Certified BFF and uncertified social media manager of our dear Yuuri Katsuki!” 

Chris took Phichit’s hand with the one that wasn’t around Yuuri’s shoulders and shook it as he smirked at the shorter man. “So this is the man I owe my thanks to for that appreciation post for Yuuri’s ass on insta.” 

“The one and only!” Phichit let go of Chris’ hand and did a little dramatic twirl. “You’re only so lucky to be in my presence. Perks of being his roommate include drunken games of 20 questions and all the chances I want to photograph his sweet ass!”

"Indeed." Chris said with a chuckle before letting go of Yuuri and moving over to gesture at Victor. "As I'm sure you both already know, this is Victor. Victor, this is Yuuri, and of course Phichit just introduced himself."

Victor forced himself to actually look like he was just meeting Yuuri for the first time, reminding himself that Yuuri still didn't know it was Victor that he'd been messaging the past month or so.

"Hi! Please pardon my appearance, this one hardly let me get off the ice before dragging me away." Victor chuckled, not missing the glance Yuuri gave up and down his form, nor the resulting blush that lightly tinted his face.

"I-I'm sorry." Yuuri spoke softly, and Victor thought his voice sounded just as beautiful as it did the previous night. "Uhm, you can go on if you need to…"

Victor waved his hand in dismissal. "No, it's fine. I'll just shower and change back at the hotel."

Victor noted the flush on Yuuri's nose deepen, and, oh was it a sight. Victor wondered how this was the man who was so passionate last night, and now so soft in the light.

Chris looked between them with a knowing smirk on his face, and Victor glared at him. Chris, of course, ignored that. "So, would the two of you like to go to lunch with us tomorrow? There's this restaurant just down the street from the hotel that I've been dying to try since we got here."

"Oh, we don't want to impo-"

Yuuri was cut off by Phichit jumping in. "Oh, we would absolutely love to! Meet us in the lobby at 11?"

Chris nodded and the two of them shook hands on it as if it were some kind of deal.

Victor rolled his eyes at them, then smiled softly at Yuuri. "See you tomorrow, then?"

Yuuri blinked up at him, then gave his own tiny smile back. "Yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: The four of them go out to lunch. Can Yuuri and Victor survive the interaction?


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not-Date but it's kind of a date. Chris and Phichit continue to conspire against their friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *walks in one month late with starbucks* sup fuckers.
> 
> [[CURRENTLY ON SEMI-HIATUS]] See more info on my tumblr @napsushi

Yuuri was, honest to god, really,  _ really _ freaking the absolute  _ fuck _ out.

He'd hardly gotten  _ any  _ sleep that night. How could he, when he was going out to lunch with Victor in less than an hour now, and Victor wouldn't even know that Yuuri knew that they'd already met? Yuuri could only hope that he'd be able to hold himself together for the entire get together - Phichit kept calling it a double date, but Yuuri refused to think about it like that.

Before long, Phichit was dragging him down to the lobby of the hotel, chatting excitedly about the day ahead of them, though Yuuri was barely paying him any attention. Yuuri's thoughts were filled to the brim with  _ Victor.  _ Thoughts of their interactions the previous day after the short program, how Victor looked flushed and his hair mussed up from having just finished his program. The way he hadn't even bothered zipping up his team jacket and giving Yuuri an up close look at the costume that had been part of his personal fantasies this past season. 

More than anything, though, Yuuri's brain wouldn't stop screaming at him about how going out to lunch with Victor was a bad idea. Yuuri wasn't entirely oblivious, and knew Victor was checking him out the previous day. He knew the moment Victor saw the hickeys the man himself had given him, the blush that was barely there enough of a hint to Yuuri. 

Yuuri was brought out of his mind by Phichit elbowing him in the side, and pointing towards the elevators. Striding out through the doors, Victor and Chris chatted animatedly, with broad hand gestures and matching smiles. Once they spotted Yuuri and Phichit, however, Victor’s smile turned softer and Chris’ more mischievous, and they both half-jogged over to meet them by the main entrance. 

Victor looked down at Yuuri, blue ocean eyes sparkling. “Hey.”

Yuuri felt a soft blush paint his cheeks and he smiled softly, looking down, suddenly interested in the tile flooring. “Hi…”

Chris interrupted their moment, asking loudly, “So, we ready to go?”

Yuuri gave a small nod as Phichit turned and led the way to the door, which he stopped at and turned around again. “Wait, where exactly are we going?”

Chris chuckled as he walked up and past him, motioning for everyone to follow as he looked at the directions on his phone. This left Yuuri and Victor walking next to each other behind their friends, and Yuuri felt himself step closer to Victor as the wind blew and chilled him to his bones.

“Are you cold?”

Yuuri looked up at Victor, then back forward, shrugging as he walked. “It’s just a bit chilly is all.”

Victor hummed in response, stepping slightly closer to Yuuri. Yuuri tried to will the blush growing on his cheeks to cease, but he failed miserably when he felt their fingers lightly brush against each other. Yuuri wanted so badly to reach and grab Victor’s hand in his, to hold him with fingers laced as they walked to the restaurant together. This was going to be harder than he thought.

They eventually made it to the restaurant, a nice looking burger joint, and stepped in and waited to be seated. They were led to a booth, both Phichit and Chris insisting that Victor and Yuuri sit down first. They sat across from each other, effectively trapped in by their friends.

Yuuri looks over to Phichit, glaring at him. His friend knew that Yuuri preferred to be at the end of booths because of his anxiety, which meant the Thai skater was actively planning to hold him hostage. Phichit just shrugs innocently at Yuuri, earning him a soft kick under the table.

Picking up his menu, Yuuri promptly hides behind it, avoiding eye contact with Victor. He’s browsing down their drink selection when he feels a foot caress the side of his calf, making him jump slightly in his seat. He peeks over his menu just enough to see Victor staring at him with a raised brow, expression soft but otherwise unreadable.

“Yuuri, you alright?” the Russian asks, his voice smooth and oh, Yuuri wonders how he ever missed the connection before.

A light pink flush stains Yuuri’s cheeks, and he somehow manages to stutter out a quiet, “Yeah, I’m fine,” before looking back down at his menu, not quite hiding behind it anymore. He can still feel Victor’s gaze on him though, so he channels any ounce of courage he may possess and reaches his foot under the table to return Victor’s touch, the toe of his shoe gently going down the silver’s own calf. He glances up and can’t help but notice the blush barely there on Victor’s cheeks, so he smiles up at him softly, prompting said blush to go just a touch deeper.

_ ‘He’s so beautiful when he blushes.’ _

The tension seemed to melt away after that, conversation flowing freely and easily between the four skaters. They get served their food - burgers for Yuuri and Phichit, something healthier for the ones who actually had to skate the next day - and things die down a bit. Yuuri couldn’t help but notice that Victor watched him every chance he got, and was constantly asking him questions about anything and everything. Some even details Yuuri knew he’d covered in their online chats.

“So, Yuuri, have you ever been to Ontario before?” Victor asked, taking a sip of his drink as he gazed at Yuuri through his silver fringe.

Yuuri nodded, quickly swallowing his bite of his burger so he could answer. “Yeah, I was in Toronto for Skate Canada… two years ago I think? But this is my first time in London.”

Chris piped up next. “Oh, Toronto! I think we competed together then! Wasn’t that the year you finally beat me to gold and celebrated so hard at the banquet your coach had to ask me to help drag your drunk ass back to your hotel room?”

Phichit’s eyes widened, a grin plastering his face from ear to ear. “Yuuri! You never told me about that!”

Yuuri groaned and rested his forehead against the edge of their table, speaking to the floor. “Of course I never told you, do you see yourself now?”

Yuuri could hear Victor chuckle, “Oh, it couldn’t have been that bad! God, Chris, do you remember Euros back in 2009?”

The laughter then dissolved into stories regaling the drunkest they’ve ever been before, after, and even once during a competition - Victor learned a very valuable lesson that day - and Yuuri found himself content to just listen to the three of them talk, getting lost in his own thoughts.

Hanging out with Victor was a dream come true, and Yuuri found talking to him was almost as easy as talking online. The man was kind, if a bit of a goofball, and Yuuri couldn't help but melt every time that blue eyed gaze fell on him. Eventually Yuuri noticed that Victor wasn't part of the conversation anymore, and was rather looking at Yuuri with an unreadable expression.

Yuuri sat up in his seat, raising a questioning eyebrow at him, trying to think of a way to explain without revealing that he knew Victor from online. A figurative lightbulb flashed in Yuuri's mind, and he leaned his elbow on the table, resting his cheek in his hand with a sigh he hoped didn't come out too dramatic. Gathering his thoughts one last time, he figured out how to say what he wanted to say.

"Well, I'm just worried about an online friend. We normally talk a lot, but I haven't gotten a message from him in awhile. I'm wondering if I scared him off or something…" Yuuri said, keeping his voice even to hide his true motive as he laid down his bait.

A flash of something passed Victor's eyes, too fast one might have missed it, but from what Yuuri saw it may have been panic. Victor paused a moment before speaking, his voice almost too cheery, "I'm sure he's just busy. You never know with online friends!"

Yuuri sighed, watching Victor's face carefully as he spoke. "I hope you're right… Maybe I should message him, just to make sure he’s okay. He's competing here too, he's probably just practicing.”

"No," Victor replied, almost a bit too quickly, before clearing his throat and speaking again. "Like you said, he's probably just practicing. If that's the case you probably shouldn't distract him." Victor started to fidget a little bit, and Yuuri had to repress his smile at his idea working. Victor then nudged Chris, asking the other to let him up to use the restroom.

Yuuri didn’t miss the smirk Chris gave Victor as the silver stood up and made his way to the back where the restrooms were located. Apparently neither did Phichit, because the Thai boy immediately shot a look at Chris, asking, “Okay, hot stuff, what do you know?” 

"Oh, whatever do you mean, cherie?" Chris leaned forward with his elbows on the table, hands folded together and his chin resting atop them. Mischief sparkled in his eyes.

Phichit met those eyes with his own spark, grinning from ear to ear. "You know that Yuuri and Victor met on that penpal site you shared on twitter!"

Chris' brows raised slightly in surprise, but he quickly schooled his expression into something more neutral. "And what makes you think I know anything of the sort?"

Phichit smirked at the challenge. "I'm  _ very  _ good at reading people. Also you guys are like bff's, there's no way he wouldn't tell you."

Chris looked slightly impressed, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms. "Okay. I'll concede to that. Then how do you two know, Victor told me he was staying anonymous."

"Well I'm on the site too, and I got matched with Victor's rinkmate, Mila!" Phichit explained excitedly. "We agreed not to tell them at first, but circumstances required me to tell Yuuri. But you can't tell Victor!"

"Why?" The blonde raised an eyebrow.

Yuuri chimed in this time. "I want to tell him myself, or at least let him tell me. He's tried telling me a few times before, but I could tell even though he said he wanted to, he wasn't ready." Yuuri looked down at his plate, his fork poking at his half-eaten burger absently. "I only found out after the last time we saw each other. Phichit told me when… well I was doubting if this relationship could mean anything more."

Chris was quiet for a while, and Yuuri watched his neutral face with anticipation. Chris sighed, some tension leaving his shoulders as he faced Yuuri more head on before speaking. "If there's anything I know, Victor is absolutely smitten for you." 

Yuuri flushed deeply at the notion, shaking his head. "I don't know if I would say that…"

Both Chris and Phichit rolled their eyes at that.

"Yuuri, he messaged you yesterday saying he was skating for you, then proceeded to skate to Once Upon A Dream." Phichit deadpanned.

Chris nodded in agreement. "Oh you guys should have seen him when I met up with him for drinks the other day. Poor fool was heartbroken because Yuuri didn't want to meet him."

Just then Yuuri's phone pinged with the telltale tone of the penpal app, and he looked down at the screen as Phichit and Chris continued the conversation without him.

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** Hi Yuuri!!!  ＼(^▽^) Sorry I haven’t been very chatty today! I’ve been kinda busy… (シ_ _)シ

Yuuri shook his head at the screen before typing his reply.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** Oh, no worries ^^;; I’m out with friends right now.

**ice-life-love said:** **  
** That’s great!! Are you having fun?

Yuuri had to stifle a giggle by biting his lip. Was Victor trying to bait Yuuri into telling him how he thought of the not-date? Yuuri wasn’t about to deny him though.

**katsudamn said:** **  
** I am, actually. Everyone is great company.

Yuuri doesn’t get a response, but not too long after he’s sent his message does Victor come out grinning like an idiot. Yuuri can’t help but smile back at him as the silver sits back down in the booth.

“Damn, Victor, does this restaurant have a bidet in there or did you just have the best shit of your life? Because with that smile, one of those things had to have happened.” Phichit said with a chuckle.

Victor immediately flushes red, trying to stutter out a reply before deciding it’s apparently better to just shut up. Yuuri covers his mouth with his hand to stifle the laugh that wants to come out.

The rest of lunch goes off without a hitch, the four friends chatting amicably. Soon, bellies are full and plates all but licked clean, and they are stepping back out into the cold.

“I’m having too much fun to end this here!” Chris exclaims.

Phichit jumps up and down in excitement. “Oh! There’s a park not too far from here. We should hang out there!”

The two go on ahead, and Victor turns to Yuuri, holding his hand out to him. “Shall we?”

With a small smile Yuuri takes Victor’s hand and nods. “Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment and kudos!! Your feedback is wonderful and keeps this fic going <3


End file.
